A Dead Star
by TheManWhoCan
Summary: In a future galaxy constrained by corrupt bureaucracy the attempts to garner a good life for one's love and prosperity are... challenging. But Minato will admit to himself that some of the failures are unarguably his fault. Like his son trying to kill him
1. Ab Ovo Konoha

A/N I Don't Own Naruto

A Dead Star , Chapter One

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Yamanaka Apartment (8:00 P.M.)

"Look at these Idiots," Inoichi said while looking at the TV screen on the wall. "They are looking at the situation wrong! We need info on the killer, not the man who was killed!"

"Inoichi, stop yelling at the news reporters. They didn't have military training like you. They aren't professional investigators like the ones on cheap cop shows. They are called the paparazzi for a reason." his wife replied.

"But still dear, this could be the serial killer who struck a few days ago… the brutal serial killer… those poor saps…" He trailed off there.

At that moment the door was flung open and a very happy looking Ino ran in screaming, "I PASSED!"

"Good for you, Ino," Inoichi replied as he stood up.

"Thanks Daddy! Will you be able to make time for my graduation?" She asked with a pout.

"He better! Unlike all the other times he shrunk from duty…" Inoichi's wife took a not-so-friendly look at him.

Her father let out an exasperated sigh. "Why me…"

"_Overall, the corpse suggests that the killer is the same one who has been striking at rich businessmen as of late. No new news is being released, but be aware for suspicious activity in your…." _

The newsman trailed off as the hologram closed and the screen on the wall sunk in and was closed in by the automatic sliding doors. As the family went out, the lights shut down and the apartment began its automated cleaning process.

-Unknown Location (Unknown Time)-

A lone figure sat atop a tall building. It was night time, and the two pale moon's light reflected upon the shiny structures. For a moment, part of the figure's face was illuminated by the morbid red and blue sheen. He moved his head down so that there was no more light.

_He… Shall pay_

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Konoha Military Branch Academy Assembly Hall (The Next Day; 10:00 A.M.)

"And I would like to once again congratulate you all on passing the tests. Welcome to the Terran Federation Armed Forces. Thank you for your commitment to it. Thank you, and goodnight. One last thing. New graduates, you are to meet here at 6:00 A.M. Sharp for your first assignment." A man in a padded combat suit and a white cloak with red flames licking at the bottom said.

This man was the Fourth Hokage, one of the five leaders of the military forces in the Terran Federation. The Hokage, the Tsuchikage, the Kazekage, the Mizukage, and the Raikage are elected by the council and approved by the senate to control military forces. He came into power after the Third Hokage retired into just one of many advisors of the council. He stood ready to fight, with his side-arm on his belt, tensed. For this is what one must do to be a kage. Always be prepared. And with the murders as of late he had no chance to scrimp on that.

As the teenagers, between the age of fifteen and sixteen, jumped for joy and hugged their parents hastily and ran out to party, he thought,

_If he was alive, would he be here, coming and hugging me in a fit of joy?_

With a small sense of envy and no small amount of jealousy, he walked out and congratulated the parents on guiding their children through the school. It wasn't every day someone joined the military, and it was certainly not every day that kids graduated from the special ops school. As the last few kids left the room, his thoughts lingered on the last one: Sasuke Uchiha.

He was a dark boy. Ever since the greater part of his family was killed by Itachi Uchiha, his brother, he has been bent on finding and killing him. If he knew Itachi was ordered… Perhaps the only reason he joined Spec Ops was to be put on the Itachi Case.

The Fourth dismissed that thought. He believed that time would help the boy come to terms with what has happened. Being one of the luckier ones, he didn't lose any immediate relatives, besides, of course, Itachi himself. Soon, he hoped, the boy would drop Itachi all together and perhaps even move on to another profession.

That was what he found beautiful about the Spec Ops program. A normal somewhat high-end education, for free, coupled with two years of service. After that, they could quit, if they didn't like it. Unlike the standing army draft, which was only for a couple unlucky saps, the Spec Ops program was much more easy-going and had better results in the end. It was an ingenious idea implemented during the Third Hokage's rule. One of the many things that man did.

_But things have changed,_ he thought. The actual Hokage holds no more political influence: only militarily. Now the council holds most of the ruling power, but the senate has to approve all major actions.

Of course as the Hokage, he knows that the council has a pretty tight grip on the senate, and that the council will do whatever they want to get something. He also knows that deep down they want the best for the Terran Federation, but he is a good natured man and does not agree with their mannerisms in doing so.

He would know, for he lost so much. Perhaps it was his fault, falling in love with an Alleurian. Forbidden love, and before he even got its fruits, the council and senate split them up, and both the baby and his lover were separated and lost.

_She hates me, probably,_ he thought. _For losing the child. It would explain why she doesn't reply to my messages more than once every six months or so. I deserve it too, for it was my fault. I could have stopped them._

He left the assembly hall, barely thinking about the stack of paperwork he still has at his desk, or the meeting he has to go to in an hour.

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Konoha Academy Assembly Hall (The Next Day, 6:00 A.M.)

Hatake Kakashi stood in the hall overlooking the recruits. He, along with Yuuhi Kurenai, and Sarutobi Asuma, would be taking 8 of the new recruits to work on the recent killer case. Along with Maito Gai's team, but they weren't rookies, and therefore were not nearly as much work. He sighed. Kurenai tricked him into coming this early. He knew he shouldn't have believed her when she said to meet at 3:00 AM, but his skepticism didn't pay off, and, being three hours late, he was on time.

He sighed again.

"OK, listen up rookies, we are working on the recent killer case, codenamed Case K561 DT008 meaning Killer case 561; Death Toll 008. Meet at 6:00 A.M. at Spec Ops station 3.8. Ja!" He started and ended quickly, followed by promptly leaving.

Following suit, the other Jonin left after him.

Being Jonin, the highest of the three ranks given to Spec. Ops, they had all sorts of privileges in the military, such as reserving Spec Ops stations, which consisted of a hangar open to the air, several large work rooms, and a barracks, for personal use such as private training. Although they must stock their own space fuel to use, it is definitely worth it.

Private training, meaning partying, and space fuel meaning alcohol. Many a party took place in the stations.

However, in this case, Kakashi has had the station 3.8 actually given to him for the length of the case he was involved in. That doesn't happen a lot. And to a teacher with rookies no less. Still, a station was a station.

As the Jonin walked out, the room was silent. A long bead of sweat rolled down one large forehead framed by bright pink hair.

"WHY BRING US OUT HERE TO JUST TELL US TO MEET TOMARROW AT THE SAME TIME!" the owner of this forehead screeched.

Murmurs of the same feelings came from the other graduates.

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Commercial Service District (6 hours later)

Haruno Sakura considered herself to be a good person. With good grades, many friends, several boys always flirting over her. Her "outbursts" are only her small outputs of pent up frustration over "stress from being in the military" as she says.

Always living in a city, she has seen it all and done it all, or so she thinks.

So, when walking in an alley, seeing a dark cloaked figure about a head taller than her, holding a bulky bag on his shoulder, she paid it no mind.

For, she has seen worse than this. This was nothing. Right?

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Spec. Ops Station 3.8 (The Next Day, 6:00 A.M.)

The 8 Genin: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamichi Chouji, stood before the three Jonin.

"O.K., we are going to give you your Genin test." Kakashi said with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face, not that you could see it, for a facemask was covering it. "I know you all already got to Genin level, but we have to test your skill, and weed out anyone who isn't up to snuff."

"But sensei, we already took the test, didn't we?!" Haruno Sakura yelled out in a stupor.

She had gotten up, and just started to get ready, when she realized that it wasn't a normal Saturday, and hence, she could not sleep in. In a rush, she did only the bare necessities to get ready and ran over to the station as fast as possible.

"Of course, but this is a special test. One that is less forgiving and actually tests your combat abilities," He replied, smiling at his flustered Genin prospective.

"EHH?" she questioned.

"For once I agree with Forehead girl," Yamanaka Ino stated. She was better off than her pink-haired counterpart, but not by much.

Murmurs of agreement were spoken aloud among the other six candidates.

"Well, your academy teachers taught you everything you need to know about combat. At least you think they did. While it is true that combat is only required of high-Gennin to Chunin, you still need to be capable. Here, we are going to test you on that capability with a combat simulator. An old academy favorite with a twist. VR: Search and Destroy, Ouch version." Kakashi said, with a small smile growing bigger and more evil with every word.

"Ouch version?" Kiba Inuzuka, with a small mechanical dog on his head yipping. He came from an illustrious family of A.I. engineers whom would build each of their members one or more combat programmed companion pets.

"With feeling. All feeling," Kakashi replied, and with looks of horror from all of the students, including Shino and even Sasuke.

VR, meaning virtual reality, was a program invented by Dr. Mann Charles, was a program that allowed someone to experience something without actually feeling it. The one controlling it could remove or add senses to the person experiencing it to train people in different abilities and skills.

For the military, VRs were used mainly for combat simulation, or combat sims. They didn't include pain, but rather a video-game like death.

Search and Destroy particularly was a favorite for academy teachers because its scenarios offered many possibilities for training including both piloting and ground combat. The people in the simulation would start at a space dock, board their ships, go to a rally point and search for a target. Once they found it they would destroy or capture it. Often times someone would be the goal whom would have to run away from everyone else. Both teachers and students favored this combat "game" over most others due to its competitive aspect of placing students in different locations to confuse them.

However, an "Ouch Version," includes all feelings of pain, and it doesn't have the same psychological limits on it.

Thus the reason the other Jonin were beginning to join in to Kakashi's mad cackling.

After setting up the equipment for the VR combat sim for about two hours, the three Jonin were very anxious to see how their students would react. Even Kakashi showed up on time, much to the other two adult's surprise. He didn't usually show up on time unless the world was ending or he was very antsy about something.

"Now everyone come here to get strapped in," Kakashi ordered, his eye almost seeming to smile eerily at the new recruits.

They reluctantly prepared for the trial to come.

Virtual Reality Simulation: "Star Belt 001, Central Initiation Hub"

The whole ensemble of Genin appeared in a plain white room. Most were already used to the starting interface. Slowly the faces of Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma appeared in the glaring brightness of the room.

"There are eight doors that will appear once we leave. Each one to a different space station and a different class and style ship. Some of you will have a better chance. Others not so much, however, every ship does have a stealth drive."

Stealth drives were installed on ships to quiet their emissions and basically lower their profile and erase the jet stream coming out the back of their engines. The ships are not erased from vision or radar, but they can be mistaken for a rock or floating debris. Ships using stealth drives must move slowly and not make sudden changes in direction for the drive not to act up.

"To complete this exercise, you must find an artifact. There will be only one artifact. The artifact makes your ship a beacon of flashing light to everyone. It can be found in the largest asteroid. To win, bring it to the central station at the center of the sector. There will be a large bay. Go inside the bay and put the artifact inside the slot for it."

Everyone groaned at this. Asteroids, no matter how large, were very difficult to locate and get to. The easier it was to find, the more complex the caverns were. The larger the caverns, the more "surprises" there are. Either way, no one liked asteroids.

"One more thing, don't forget to use te-" Asuma cut in, but the communication between the students and the teachers cut off.

The eight doors appeared, and each of the eight cadets went in one.

-

"You think they can manage _that_ asteroid Kakashi?" Kurenai questioned

"They will have to, if they want to make it in the military. They have to prove themselves as an adaptable group of people," he replied.

"But… the last cadets to use that asteroid were so scared they had to be discharged," Asuma spoke.

"I… have faith in them," Kakashi said after a pause, a certain raven-haired boy coming to mind.

-

Akamichi Chouji, the biggest of his class, was surprisingly good at heavy combat. His choice ship in simulators was the CCG (Close Combat Gunship). It had power, and it had strength. It was exactly what he was used to working with.

So, when he found that his ship was a LRS (Long Range Scout), he was horrified. No machine guns, no auto-turrets, no missile bays, nothing! Just a small hand-held outboard laser turret! He cried a silent but proud warrior's tears.

His luck was the worst. Right?

-

Hyuuga Hinata always preferred the sleek silent class ship of the LRS (Long Range Scout). It was small and maneuverable, and, if you knew how to target things with its handheld turret like she did, it was a powerful tool. Very little micromanaging was used in piloting it. Drive and shoot.

So, when she found that her ship was the CCG (Close Combat Gunship), she was horrified. So much to manage! Too many guns to watch ammo counters! She always preferred lasers. They were much sleeker and required less maintenance.

She probably had the worst luck of all her piers! Right?

-

When in doubt, Uchiha Sasuke always had his skills. He was proficient in all modes of space combat, from small fighters to transport vehicles. When he considered what ship he would choose, given the choice, he never could decide. When he arrived at his small station, with nothing but a space suit laying in pieces on the ground, he was left dumfounded. He imagined a weak fighter or a bulky frigate, but not this!

Begrudgingly he put it on, piece by piece, he was sure that the whole process took over thirty minutes. When he finally put his nose out the door, he was relieved to find that, at least, the target asteroid, which the others might find hours locating, was right there.

He used his jet pack to jump towards it. It was medium-sized, but due to the standing-out color of it, he was sure that it was the one.

As he grew closer, he prepared to land. After awhile, he realized that his perception of how far away it stood was incorrect. After about thirty seconds with the asteroid only getting bigger, he decided to some calculations (mentally) as to how far and large it actually was. As he slowly figured it out, his eyes widened.

_132x98 Kilometer span, widest point(s) _

-

Nara Shikamaru slowly navigated his CFm2 (Combat Frigate mark 2) through the asteroid. With its size, it was not a surprise to him that it had enough room for a ship or two. He was not particularly pleased with this ship. It required so much micromanaging of proportions. While it was small enough to navigate the asteroid, it took time and concentration (his banes) to keep it from bumping against the various sides of the cavern.

He sighed, and laid back as he finally found a larger cavern to float a bit more freely. He sat back.

"Troublesome."

-

A thunderous screech sounded throughout the hull of the LRCG (Long Range Combat Gunship). It had scratched the side of the cavern it was in.

"Damnit!" a boy with a mechanical dog at his side yelled.

Kiba was not pleased. First, he was stuck with a long range artillery ship! Artillery! He didn't have the patience to pinpoint accurate shots over multiple kilometers, or to navigate with the slow engines of the ship. He, of course, knew that the engines were slow to keep the explosive cargo in check, but still, he was annoyed.

The ship was difficult to maneuver in a tight spot, which conveniently was what he was in right now. Cramped through small tunnels in a tight asteroid.

The hull screeched again, and he yelled multiple obscenities.

-

As Kakashi watched them from his observation room with the two other Jonin, he chuckled.

"Those fools…" he trailed off.

The other Jonin looked at him curiously.

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Hokage Mansion Memorial Shrine (Same time)

"What would it have been like for you to have been alive? I wonder this every day, you know. Would I see your smiling face? Would you take after me or your mother?"

A blond-haired man with a white cloak with red flames at the bottom sighed as he began to talk to no one in particular.

"I'm sorry. I know I said this more than once. It isn't fitting for me to be saying this, nor do I have the right to forgiveness, but still, I am sorry."

"I could have stopped them, I could have! Those bastards on the senate are all too happy to accept their bribe from the council and vote who-knows-what. Those son-bitches would never know the difference between a declaration of war and a contribution to charity."

"Sorry, once again. I shouldn't swear in front of my son. If you are listening."

"I failed again. I know it. The colony was all my idea. I was cocky. I thought it would work. I don't even know how it failed, but it did. It's my fault they all died. Can't get it from my conscience."

"Funny that I can be in the army, killing every day and still feel guilty for some deaths that inadvertently weren't even my fault."

"I'm pathetic. Sorry."

"I guess I don't have the right to say sorry, do I?"

"What would you think, had I the ability to hear your reply?"

"Hmm, Naruto?"

-

A/N

I would have published this later, but it was so good (at least, among my other works) that I felt the need to put it out there. Rest assured, I have at least Arc 1 (presumably three chapters at least this length), already planned out with more to come. This is NarutoTayuya. I haven't mentioned her yet, but I plan on it. I am not making any promises on an updating schedule. Hopefully, the next chapter will be out as early as late November/early December.

I am open to flames. I welcome them, and challenge anyone to flame me. Give me your worst review (hopefully followed by your best one :D)

This is DarkNaruto for the first arc. He will become less and less dark. He is dark, not evil. I won't specify further than that.


	2. Ab Media Naruto

Virtual Reality Simulation: "Star Belt 001, L. Asteroid 1"

After what seemed like hours of tight maneuvering, Sakura finally found what must have been the largest cavern in the asteroid. With the amount of exits she saw, she knew a large number of her classmates would have to pass through it to pass at some point.

Having done this tactic before, she found the rockiest part of the cavern and lowered her repair ship down towards it.

It wouldn't be easy, but she had all the textbook knowledge of everything. Every situation and how to counter it. She knew exactly how to pilot the fragile repair ship to make an effective sneak attack. As she switched on the stealth drive, she contemplated how she would use the ships limited weaponry.

_A large barrage of blaster shots or a missile? A blaster shot won't waste ammo, but the missile may be more effective. I must catch them off guard._

As the ship's stealth drive hummed to life, she got up from the small bridge and went to the limited weapons control room. There, she set up the missile pod to be able to fire at will and she went to the only blaster turret, where she sat there and waited.

-

To pass the time, Chouji opened a bag of chips. He always did this when he was in a simulator. While outside, he always had to follow a strict military diet. However, eating in a sim didn't have any outside effects. He slowly maneuvered through the cavern.

This open cavern he had discovered was obviously a main cave in the asteroid he was currently in. He noticed a small shimmer on the wall.

_Could it be the objective? _He thought.

As he got nearer, the shimmer became a small repair ship, which immediately started shooting. Dodging the blaster shots, Chouji fired a few shots back, which, due to his small ship and weapons, did not have any major effect besides causing whoever was in the other ship to stall weapons fire for a moment.

In this moment he rushed for the closest opening. He was at a disadvantage here, and if he was to fight someone, it would be in his own territory.

As soon as he got to the opening he noticed that in it, was a long range combat gunship that seemed a little rough for wear.

He spun around and head for another exit, only to notice that a Close combat gunship was making a beeline for him.

Seeing an array of ships also converging upon the cavern he was in, he moved as close to the wall as he could and hid in the rocks.

He was out of potato chips.

-

By the time Sasuke got into the cavern, a large firefight was in progress. He sighed, and jumped towards the nearest ship. As he flew, he thought of a plan.

_I will hold whoever is in it hostage, have them find the objective, and erase them from the simulation and steal their ship._

He saw that the ship he leapt towards was a long ranged combat gunship. That was good. He knew how to pilot one of those.

As he leapt closer he realized that it may have not been the best choice. It looked quite beat up.

_The driver must be Kiba. _He thought glumly

-

Shikamaru saw the fight ahead of him and decided to avoid it. He took the nearest passage that went away from it. A few kilometers down it, and he saw a bright flashing light. He smiled a smile that you might only find on a chess player.

_Checkmate_

As used the crane arm in his ship to grab it, the whole asteroid shook.

_Crap, it must be an asteroid designed to collapse as soon as someone gets the objective! Gotta get out of here!_

But to his surprise, instead of collapsing, the Asteroid began to disintegrate. Soon, all around where the asteroid used to be was a gargantuan alien fleet.

-

All of the genin were shocked to see the alien fleet. It was like a scene out of a horror movie.

They all franticly tried to attack it and survive, but they were overwhelmed in seconds. In mere moments the fleet that outnumbered them four to one had annihilated their meager party of space craft. There was no time to think. No time to talk. Only a few transmissions saying things like, "What the hell?" and, "Holy Shit!" were communicated.

Then, they woke up.

-

"What was the point of that!?!" Kiba Inuzuka demanded. "That fleet was invincible!"

"We were outnumbered four to one. I agree with him on this one." Shikamaru voiced.

"The point was to teach you teamwork," Kakashi stated calmly. "Had you teamed up and exchanged ships, you would have at least been able to make it to the central dock with the artifact. Maybe even take out the fleet."

His face softened. "Have you heard about the lost fleet through the wormhole? Have you heard that they were destroyed when they went through?"

"Yea, what about it?" Sakura questioned.

"It's a lie. Being Genin, you are allowed to know about it. When the fleet went through the wormhole, it came out the other side. And on the other side, there was that alien armada. The very same one you faced we had to face twenty-fold. With just as few ships…"

"I was there when we destroyed just enough to re-enter the wormhole and escape. I was a cadet on one of the ships serving under the man who is now our Hokage."

"This scenario was designed to test everyone who enters the military to be able to escape from an alien fleet should the need arise. And you all failed."

"That is why our military program is so aggressive. Should the aliens attack, we would all die unless we have an excellent military."

The genin sat there, dumbfounded. None of them made a sound after this terrifying revelation.

"I will give you one more chance. This time, you will face us. You genin versus us jonin. Your goal is to destroy one of us before we destroy all of you. Good luck."

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

A slim, tall figure walked out of an alleyway into the cold unforgiving night. He was clothed in a jet black trench coat, black pants, and black sandals that only showed his toes. His face was covered by a hood.

He swiftly climbed a small building and perched on the top. His eyes were fixed on a large red tower that was across the avenue. The Hokage Tower.

He pulled out a small object from inside his coat. After fiddling with it for awhile, it seemed to become a pair of binoculars. He looked through them and spied upon the people inside the red building.

_Eighth floor, middle room… _He thought

As he spotted the office of one of the most powerful men in the known galaxy, he paused and snarled.

_The Fourth Hokage… _

He snarled in disgust. The figure pulled out a remote and pressed a button. Soon, a speeder came from a parking lot to the top of the building he was on. He pulled out his rifle from it and trained it on the man.

_Finally, I found you vulnerable…_ He thought

Flashback

Unknown Location, Unknown Time

_She stood there, smiling. She said, 'Those dumbasses don't give a damn. Let's go out today!'_

_He complied with a wide smile. Despite her rude demeanor, he thought she was the nicest girl in the colony._

_-_

_As they hiked away from the base camp, she fell and cut her calf._

'_Shit!' she cursed._

'_Are you alright?' he asked._

'_Yea…'_

_At that moment, there was an explosion on the horizon. On the horizon of the Base Camp._

_-_

_The base camp was a warzone. The soldiers were shooting all of the colonists. The boy ran towards the main structure when a flurry of the bullets engrained themselves into his back._

_He fell down, presumably dead. As the soldier stepped over him, he looked up. Only to see the soldier burry twenty rounds into the torso of the girl. He fell into shock. When the soldier checked him to see why he moved, he saw an open-eyed, unmoving boy. He left._

_-_

_He crawled onto the ship. With nothing but a small pistol in his hands. With the grievous wound on his back and the tears on his face, he stowed away on the last vessel to leave the planet. He was safe. But she wasn't_

End Flashback

"Looking for someone?" A voice echoed from another building adjacent to the one he was on. He looked. While occupied with his memory, he let a cop find him. Sighing, he pulled out a pistol with a silencer and shot the government employee in the head. Getting back to his aiming, a group of fifteen Special operatives jumped up onto the building he was on.

"Shit," he said.

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Top of Residential Complex HR22HI

Kakashi was pleased with his group. After passing the test, joining with Gai's team and tracking down the killer, he didn't think there was anything else they could have done in one day. It shows that they were indeed an excellent batch. With, of course, balancing and combat skills somewhat lacking.

He was only afraid of what the killer might be capable of.

-

The killer jumped on his speeder and started firing his pistol. The Special Operatives took cover behind some ventilation ducts. As the firing ceased, they called their speeders up to the building and a chase ensued.

The killer's speeder was fast, and it was equipped with weapons. This fact was made obvious when he began blasting the military-grade speeders. As he raced down the maze of high-rises he began to try to lose them by zigzagging through the tight spaces that were made by the towering structures.

-

Asuma was one of the best speeder pilots around. He was particularly good with woodland and urban racing. He could usually best any other pilot on the force.

The mere fact that this guy was able to get away from him was astounding

-

The killer ran out of luck when the high-rises ran out and he flew over the futuristic suburbs. They were multi-story apartments, but they were too close together to maneuver, even for him.

The spec-op team caught up to him quickly. While his speeder was fast, it lacked the engine of a military-grade vehicle.

He saw a small park suspended between some apartments. He decided that he would rather fight them on land where they were at least evenly matched. As he landed, his pursuers were just several hundred meters behind him.

He jumped down twenty feet to the bullet train track and began running. He would eventually find a station and lose them in a crowd. Besides, he was very good at parkour.

-

As the special-operatives piled out of their speeders they looked down the alley to see their killer dashing away, some 100 meters away.

Shikamaru looked down and saw the twenty meter drop.

"Troublesome."

The squad pulled out their grapples and rope and repelled down until they were also on the track. It was a serious test of stamina for the whole group to see who, if anyone could catch the killer.

Maito Gai and Rock Lee were the fastest of the group, and were about ten meters ahead by the time they reached the nearest station. As they searched around, they saw the killer ascending the stairs into the nearest apartment complex. They chased after him.

-

As they sped on they eventually gained on him, for he was having trouble discerning where to go and not get caught in a dead end. He eventually made a wrong turn and found himself in a trapped.

"Well, well, well. It looks like we have our killer cornered." Kiba drawled out. "It's time to pay for your evil crimes."

"What would you know about evil?" The killer said coolly, surprising everyone with his sudden outburst.

Seeing the confused looks, he went on; "Oh, none of you know? Ha… This IS amusing. You see, you are all part of a ruined system controlled by the ones with the money."

"Allow me to start from the beginning…" He began to say, captivating them with his monologue. "Once there was a little planet called, "Earth" which you may have heard of as the capital of humankind. The ruler, whom was known as the Daimyo, decided that one man couldn't control the whole galaxy, so he made a little senate. "

"As the little empire grew, so did the senate. It also gained more power. The Daimyo disappeared eventually, replaced by the council, which hired five kages to control the military aspect of the empire."

"The Hokage was corrupt. When I was born, I was born between two people of two nationalities. The Hokage decided that I had to be disposed of."

"And I was 'disposed of'. The Hokage left me for dead, after sending soldiers to bury a number of bullets in my back."

"For some reason I survived, and now I hunger for the Hokage's blood for all he has put me through."

The whole group was flabbergasted by his story. They stood there stunned. He suddenly pulled out his blaster.

"And now if you will excuse me, I will be leaving." He pointed his blaster at the floor and blew a hole in it. He jumped out it into the murky waters of the sewer. For good measure he also dropped a few grenades in the room he was just in.

"Think fast!"

-

The special ops squad had just enough time to get out of the way. As they stood, everyone had their own look. For the younger, it was shock. The older: sadness. Neji Hyuuga seemed to not be surprised.

Kakashi said, "We should report this to the Hokage."

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Hokage Tower, Hokage Office

"… And that is what he said. He left grenades and fled into the sewer." Yuuhi Kurenai finished. She had given her report as fast and with as much detail as possible. The Hokage's reaction was interesting. First it was shock. Then anger. Finally sadness.

"Very well… you are dismissed." He said dejected.

"Lord Hokage, I need to know, was any of that true?" Hinata Hyuuga questioned. It seemed out of character for her, but she persisted.

The Hokage sighed.

"You see, the story about the Daimyo was true, and I agree that the council may have gotten out of hand. That is all." He said and finished reluctantly.

"That isn't it all. I want to know this boy's story. You obviously know it. I… can't stand knowing what but not why…" Everyone looked at her. Only the adults and a few Genin understood what she said. Her clan forced servitude on half of it. She was never told why, however.

"Well…"

Everyone leaned in.

"Fine."

-

"I was in my prime, I guess. The war with the Alleurians after they broke off was intense, but coming to a close. On one of the final border fights, we captured a wild Alleurian fighter pilot, going by the name Uzumaki Kushina. We had no use for a person to torture or interrogate, so we held her until it was time to send her back to her own country.

Slowly, I… fell in love with her. I can't explain it. It was too confusing at the time. Before her time here was up we were in a relationship and I had been promoted to Hokage. We rejoiced. She decided to stay in the Terran Federation.

When our first child was born, the council found out. They took the child…" At this point Minato's fists clenched and trembled. "And send him away. Using what little sway I had, I convinced the council to send the boy to a colony. This colony was different from the others, however. Instead of having a highly-trained group of specialists, it had an untrained group of civilians and a group of soldiers to direct and oversee the production.

The colony failed. I don't know why, but it did. I…" The Yondaime started shaking.

"Please leave me" he whispered.

They did.

Hours Later

The Fourth Hokage finished writing his letter. He was sending for her. She would be able to aid him. Since he and she were broken up they kept in minor contact. Now, he told her that her son was alive.

She replied within the hour.

-

The Konoha 11, as they were now dubbed by the staff of the military base they were at, was retiring to their quarters. It was mutually agreed that they would leave the Hokage tower to a secret location for protection. They had almost retired to their quarters in a solemn silence when the transmission arrived. It was from an unknown location, but what made them curious was what it said:

"_The killer will be spying on the Hokage Tower from on top of the SE4A Production Tower. He will arrive with his ship at 12:00."_

"Think it's a trap?" Shikamaru asked as soon as the group read it.

"I think it's possible, but the killer probably doesn't know we left, so why would he not be there? This transmission was re-directed to us from the Hokage tower, so it would only make sense that the killer still thinks we are there."

"The killer? You mean the victim of circumstances?" Yamanaka blurted out. She was a little mad that there was obviously a discrepancy between who was bad and not.

"I'm sorry; Ino, but the circumstances you mention make him our enemy. You will find that not all enemies you fight are evil." Kurenai said sadly.

"Nonetheless we must look into this tip. If it is true, than we would be fools not to go there. Besides, the Hokage is protected here." Kakashi finished.

Fire City, Planet Mal-Kuan, Top of SE4A Production Tower (12:00)

The Konoha 11 were all right inside the small structure on top of the tower. It would be impossible to tell that they were there.

Sure enough, a small sleek black ship landed on the roof. A figure got out of it that was undoubtedly Naruto Namikaze, the suspected killer. He had a solemn look on his face. He pulled out a rifle and began to take sights at the Hokage Tower.

At that moment the Konoha 11 broke out of their hiding spot and dashed towards him. He dropped his weapon and ran to the edge of the building. As they neared him he jumped down fifty feet and landed with a small roll on another building. As they watched him he pulled out a remote and called his speeder from far away. He continued running away.

The Konoha 12 was disappointed, but they did capture his ship.

-

Naruto Namikaze watched them capture his ship. It was a setup by him, but they wouldn't notice. Now to track them to their Hokage would be an easy job. All he needed was his homing beacon harmlessly attached to the inside of the throttle.

As a small smile crept on his face.

_Bingo_

-

A/N

Holy crap, I guess I was anxious to get this out. It's out almost a month early then I expected. Its short enough, but I felt that I wanted to put it out now.

Sorry for not enough perspective from Naruto but you must realize that this is the initiation Arc so naturally there won't be much Naruto Perspective.

Also, I need a beta. Not for grammar. I can handle that. More for a second opinion on my work. As I am right now there is only one set of eyes to read this before it gets out.

In my writing for this story, I am organizing it into Arcs. In each arc there are 3 chapters with about 3000 words each. So, in theory, the next chapter will top the word count to 10,000. Joy.

I have no reviews at this point, so some opinion on basic things like length and style would be nice. Not necessarily good or bad.

Review. The first reviewer to critique and comment will get an honorary mention in the next chapter.

Ja!


	3. Diligo Evinco Contemno

From now on, since the unofficial "prologue" is ended, the story will proceed in Naruto's POV, or at least I will try to make it. Sorry for the wait. I realize that, while I am ahead of my projection, I have not been doing a lot of work. And I apologize for that.

My commendations for my few and far between reviewers will be at the end of the story.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and here's the newest chapter for A Dead Star. Enjoy!

Planet Mal-Kuan, Naruto's Base of Operations (10:00 PM)

Naruto slowed down his speeder and remotely opened the door to his "base". It was actually an old communication tower, but he repurposed it. He chose it both because it was abandoned and because of his… special… friend's needs.

He parked his speeder and closed the door. As it closed, a number of computers and other technologic equipment whirred to life. As he sat down at the nearest chair, a voice spoke up:

"So how'd it go?" a feminine voice spoke, seemingly from nowhere. It was a mature voice, but had a playful side, and a sharp edge.

"Oh… swell…" Naruto spoke. "Cleo, do you have the tracking device ready?"

"Well obviously." 'Cleo' spoke, as her voice finally centered on a small holographic construct. It took the form of a sophisticated looking lady in a sharp business suit with glasses and her hair in a bun. "And you know I hate it when you call me Cleo. Sounds too much like Leo."

"Yes, yes Cleopatra. I feel your pain. Your artificial woes touch me."

"Go fuck yourself." She spoke sharply.

"Of course." Naruto drawled out. He had picked up the A.I Cleopatra a long time ago. She was the last (known) A.I. with an independence and personality console. Back when A.I.s were new, they were used in directing warfare. She was one used in the first war.

However, a fatal error in an A.I. where it accidentally had an error and lost its care for human life on both sides and caused massive collateral damage caused most A.I.s to be shut down. She was, instead of shut down, isolated and stored in an old flash drive. Because of this she hated them. Cleopatra had an extra addition to her personality console that caused her to care about other A.I.s as one might care about their family. Scarred by the events, when she was stored she vowed to destroy the government.

Discovered by Naruto, the two made an uncanny team, working together to be able to destroy the government. She taught him tactics, parkour (called, "weight and force preservation"), gunmanship, hacking, and flight.

In turn, he gave her more and more space and computer power as he acquired different parts. Together they could plot and execute an operation at a level that an entire special operative team couldn't do.

Cleopatra has also developed almost a mother-son relationship with Naruto. Her care for her kinship of A.I.s also extended to the boy. His story saddened her. She wouldn't admit it, but she was really only in the job because she liked Naruto so much. Shaking the government was an added plus.

"Are you… sure you want to go through with this Naruto? I mean… I am alright with dropping this… I mean… I'm worried about you. You hardly eat or sleep."

"I am too close to my goal to back down, Cleo. That man… he must die. And my resolve hasn't dipped at all."

"I worry for you. That is all."

"Don't."

Planet Mal-Kuan, Remote Military Base (same time)

The Fourth Hokage stood upon a walkway up high, observing Fire City in the distance. It was one of the largest cities in the galaxy. Even now, miles away from its limits the apartment complexes sprawl.

His thoughts inadvertently drifted to the killer on the loose. His son.

He continually tried to come up with an explanation… no… a solution, but he couldn't find one. Of all things, he did not want to spill his son's blood. Alternatively he didn't particularly want to die either. Capturing was almost out of the question. His son had proved himself quite capable of getting away.

A small amount of pride welled in his heart. Just barely felt over the torrent of sorrow and regret. But most of all, he was anxious. He was no fool. The killer knew where he was. He wasn't sure how, but he felt it.

"_But when?!?"_ He thought.

Feeling worthless, he slumped on the railing. Gradually he fell into a light slumber…

_Planet Terran, The Great Terran City, Senate and Council Complex (13 Years Ago)_

_Kushina had just given birth when the council's elite soldiers broke in. They took both the mother and the child. The Fourth Hokage, the father, was given a court summon._

_When he arrived at the council chambers, the high council was already waiting there. _

_He couldn't make them out. The lighting was not in his favor. He covered his eyes from the blinding light._

"_Minato Namikaze. Do you know why you are here?" One of them drawled, apathetically._

_He replied, "Because my son. Where is he? Give him back!"_

"_We shall have order…" another spoke, slowly._

"_The child… is a political nightmare… borne of the two empires of space. He would cause much controversy."_

"_He is but a baby! Stop this madness!"_

"_You began it and indeed we shall stop it." One said… almost seeming pleased with himself or herself._

"_The child is to be sent away. Away to somewhere. Not to be seen by the public. Should the DNA scans get out, it would cause too much. Have you anything to say, Namikaze?"_

"_I… request that you send him to my colony. It was a pet-project up until now. It should stay isolated for a long time… the military colony…"_

"_Good… good… very well… we shall... begin… your colony… and use it…. For this purpose. Good day, Minato Namikaze."_

-

He awoke with a start. _"Nothing wrong, nothing wrong…"_

He came to the conclusion that he needed more caffeine.

Planet Mal-Kuan

After trudging through 200 yards of sewage, Naruto had finally found the entrance to the target building. He peeled off his "sewage suit" in which was an old-fashioned dry-suit used for cold water diving. It was disposable.

He dumped it down the sewer. Who cares if it clogs up? He would be out of here by then. And it would be a very _messy_ mess that they would have to send someone down to clean up.

He examined his attire. Clothed in baggy black pants, a baggy black shirt, and a long trench coat that was black, he felt… well… almost emo. At least it was better than the "Stage" incident (1). An involuntary shiver ran down his spine.

He felt his way up the small shaft that filtered air to the sewer, probably for sewer workers. As he came to a halt, he looked out the grate.

_Empty_

He opened the grate, and quietly entered the room. He tightly sealed the grate after him.

The door out was locked, but it wasn't a big problem.

"Cleo, some opening magic here please." He whispered.

The door, "magically" opened, its lock showing a few obscenities.

He looked down the hallway. Probably there was a patrol.

He snuck out and dashed down the hallway. He began to simply poke around. No rush. He wasn't found.

-

Naruto was in the act of poking around deep into the base when the alarm went off. Apparently some idiot tried to break in through a sewage grate…

_Oh, Shit._

He overheard from guards that someone checked for a stench, and found a severe cloggage and a broken grate.

The base was on high alert.

_Shit indeed._

He inched down the ventilation shaft he was currently in. What he saw next surprised him. The Konoha 15 were there. Searching for him, he assumed.

When the shaft groaned under his weight, they looked up at the shaft he was in. He swore.

-

(Feel free to play whatever action music you wish while reading this scene. I listened to Drives Us Bats while writing it.)

-

"Well, well well, who came back for more," Kiba drawled.

"Looks like it's time to rumble…" Rock Lee said.

"We shall see…"

Kiba charged. He threw a low uppercut that Naruto dodged by jumping sideways. He landed and quickly delivered a sound kick to Kiba's neck. As he was down, Naruto jumped on him and delivered a blow that knocked him out.

Rock Lee came next, followed by Yamanaka Ino. Lee delivered a spinning kick meant to hit Naruto's head, but he caught it with one hand as he used the force to drive a fist into Ino's face, knocking her out. He spinned around and struck Lee with his elbow in his stomach area.

As lee keeled over, Naruto lashed out at Sasuke Uchiha and Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi made a flying kick but Naruto ducked and threw him off balance. He delivered an axe kick to Kakashi when he was down. Sasuke was about to strike him with a chop to the neck when he spun around with a hook to the jaw, which knocked Sasuke out cold.

Sakura and Tenten pulled out their side-arms and began to fire. Naruto ran towards Gai to get him caught in the crossfire. The girls stopped when Gai was in range. The two fighters engaged each other.

Gai delivered a vicious blow with his knee, but Naruto dodged barely. He jumped against a wall and shot back at breakneck speeds to deliver a blow that Gai would not soon forget with his fist.

As Gai fell back, Kurenai and Asuma engaged him from the front and Sakura and Tenten from behind.

Kurenai went to hit him with both her fists but he caught them and elbowed her in the stomach. As she fell down, Asuma delivered a sucker punch to Naruto's face, but Naruto caught it and used the force to kick Sakura out of the game. He spun around and was about to kick Asuma when Kurenai, back up, caught it. She spun him around and he fell on the floor. Asuma tried to pin him, but he flipped him over and delivered a chop to Asuma's neck that knocked him out. He delivered a snap-kick to Kurenai's jaw, knocking her out.

He spun around just in time to catch Tenten's sword in his gloved hand. He grabbed it, tugged her off balance, and punched her in the face, knocking her out.

His eyes turned to Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Neji, who were all in their separate fighting stances, waiting for him to attack them.

Not being one to keep them waiting, he charged and knocked over Shino and quickly knocked him out. This gave time for Shikamaru and Chouji to surround him. They both attacked with heavily swung punches, but Shikamaru feigned when Naruto ducked and instead made for a foot sweep. It would have been successful had Naruto not suspended himself in air for a moment before delivering nasty elbows and kicks respectively to them.

Neji pulled out a side arm and fired, but Naruto began to run. As Neji was shooting, Naruto transferred his force to the wall and ran on it instead. While Neji was disoriented and he had got on the ceiling, he dove and tackled him and knocked him out.

He panted and regained his bearings. But then, about 50 soldiers flooded into the room, with their rifles bared.

He looked up as the screen on the window opened to see a balcony with the Fourth Hokage standing there.

"Give up, you're surrounded. This game is over" he yelled, almost sounding desperate.

Naruto simply said, "Oh no, we have only just begun. Naruto jumped off onto the base exterior wall where he transferred his force to the wall and ran. The soldiers fired blaster shots at him, but he dodged them.

He jumped onto the balcony that the Fourth was on and, with all of his velocity and anger, tackled him in a devastating hit.

He pulled out his blaster and shot the door to the room the balcony entrance entered into shut. And red hot.

"Game over."

-

Naruto pinned the fourth against the wall with a number of knives he had picked up from Tenten.

"Who's in charge now, _Dad_?"

Minato cringed at the word.

"Oh, not enjoying the reunion? Good. But at least don't be so serious. You aren't getting out alive anyway."

Minato tried to reason: "Naruto stop this. It doesn't have to be this way!"

"Au Contrary, father, it does. You will die just like all the people… the good people… you killed"

"Please…" the fourth muttered.

"Begging? Suffering? Feeling destroyed? You don't understand the meaning of those words."

"Let me remind you…"

_Military Colony 1, Main Hub, (6 years ago)_

_Naruto stood overlooking the colony. It wasn't much, but he called it home. He was satisfied. Enough. He had all he wanted. He had a home, people who liked him, and he had her._

_Her name was Tayuya. She swore a lot. But he knew that past her vulgar exterior there lay a sweet interior of beauty. _

_He never considered himself too young to understand love. He looked it in the eye every day when his beautiful roommate entered their small but livable two-man dormitory. _

_She was his most cherished object. His beloved. He couldn't describe it._

_-_

"_Hey Naruto! Look! Get up you lazy asshole!"_

_Naruto blinked his eyes open. It was in the middle of night and Tayuya had just waked him up. He squinted and looked at her in annoyance. She had been staying up late every night for awhile and it was getting on his nerves._

_As he laid eyes on the notebook, he noticed a picture on it. It was a drawing. Of the night sky on the horizon with both moons setting._

"_I've been getting up every time the moons set to draw this."_

_He only stared in awe._

"_You can have it if you want. Just don't mess it up." She said with a small smile on her face._

"_Really? Thanks Tayuya!_

_-_

_She stood there, smiling. She said, 'Those dumbasses don't give a damn. Let's go out today!'_

_He complied with a wide smile. Despite her rude demeanor, he thought she was the nicest girl in the colony._

_-_

_As they hiked away from the base camp, she fell and cut her calf._

'_Shit!' she cursed._

'_Are you alright?' he asked._

'_Yea…'_

_At that moment, there was an explosion on the horizon. On the horizon of the Base Camp._

_-_

_The soldiers had received orders, as he heard. Orders to exterminate the population of the colony. He ran through the streets looking for Tayuya. She probably went off to look for her aunt. _

_Then he saw it. A soldier walked out of an ally, and at the same time, Tayuya came running down the street, waving at him._

_He tried to yell. He tried to scream. The feelings he felt were intoxicating. Horror._

_The soldier hefted his gun. It happened so slowly. Perhaps an inch per second. As it was pointed at her, the pulse cartridges began to shoot out at an even slower pace._

_They ripped into her flesh, burying themselves into her back. She screamed a second, and then was killed. Right there. Right then. _

_At that moment, everything important to him ever was ripped apart in front of his eyes. He didn't even feel it when the soldier faced him and buried a number of rounds into the boy's chest. He didn't feel it when he fell down on the ground, cold, and alone. _Dead.

-

Naruto shoved the Yondaime against the wall further. His resolve was there. He would do it. All this time, he was about to accomplish his ambition. Reap his revenge. Avenge his Tayuya. He took the largest, most jagged knife in his hand.

He said, "This is the end. Game over. Your loss."

The Fourth looked down in shame.

Naruto was about to deliver the killing blow when it was stopped by a red-haired woman, who looked Alleurian. A name badge on her coat said she was Kushina Uzumaki. His mother.

His eyes widened as she hugged him.

He backed off, confused. Looking for the closest window, he broke it and jumped. He fell and rolled on the ground, even after the fifty feet and distinctive crack heard when he hit the ground. He ran. He ran for all he was worth. He ran for his life, his sanity. For all that was his.

-

The Yondaime looked up, tears forming in his eyes. Kushina had them too. They embraced. At that time, the somewhat worse for wear Konoha 15 finally broke the door and got in.

(Later)

"So, Naruto, what will you do now?"

"I don't know Cleo. I'm thinking about working for Orochimaru for awhile. At some level, he's useful for laying low. And hey, maybe I can steal some stuff too."

"I'm glad you didn't go through with it. I just want you to know."

Naruto stayed silent.

-

"Anything besides the injuries and blaster damage to report?" The Fourth asked, not seeing the point of this report.

"Well…" Kakashi replied.

"Well what. Out with it."

"You know the prototype speeder engine that runs seven times faster than all other known speeder engines that was too expensive to put into use?"

"Yes what of it?"

"It's gone."

Instead of frowning, or showing any sign of anger, the Fourth smiled.

-

AN:

Wow, stayed up long time to finish this. Mainly because I wrote enough so that I knew what was going to happen exactly at the end and I couldn't resist.

Congratulations to all of you who have read this far. If you review, thank you very much. If not, thanks for stopping by. And now for the stuff I have to say.

To my Reviewers

**PeacefulStorms**: Thanks for the input! I am greatly encouraged by your kind words. For how good at writing I feel I am, this is a step up for me. And don't worry about the reviewers. They will come.

**Draton**: Indeed, there aren't enough space stories. Believe me I agree that there is a need for more. There is much to come.

(1) = The "Stage" incident, this is an Omake contest. Here's your prompt. Make it as mentally scarring for Naruto as you can.

"Naruto rushed away from the cops. They were chasing him down the hallway of the theater. He lost them in a group of showgirls and was now in a hallway all with doors leading into different rooms for the performers. He heard the cops behind him and opened the nearest door. He would have to use whatever he found in there to disguise himself. He found…"

I'm looking for scarring stuff. When I make the Intermission (will be explained later) I will include all the ones that are written and follow the guidelines. PM me the omake.

I will make my own unless it resembles someone else's. XD

Intermission is my break between Arcs. Full of extra information, little tidbits of unknown information, and fun contests like the omake contest. And a preview for the next arc.

Stay tuned for the next installation of A Dead Star! Tuxman007 OUT!


	4. Intermission

Intermission:

Unfortunatly I didn't get any OMAKE submissions, so the intermission will go with only mine…

Just a message to my readers:

I am enjoying writing and have ideas for the future of this story, but I want to ask you, my loyal readers, to give me any suggestions you have for the story. As you may know the next arc will continue the story with Orochimaru. I am open to any suggestions for it, and the chapters will begin flowing soon enough.

But for the most part, please review. It means a lot to me, especially when people give me pointers. The best reviews give honest commentary on the work, both good and bad. As I said before, I am alright with bad reviews.

The previous arc is really an introduction so to speak. In the future I may make arc conversions from canon.

-

**OMAKE: BY ME (prepare to be amused)**

**-  
**

Naruto rushed away from the cops. They were chasing him down the hallway of the theater. He lost them in a group of showgirls and was now in a hallway all with doors leading into different rooms for the performers. He heard the cops behind him and opened the nearest door. He would have to use whatever he found in there to disguise himself.

His well trained eyes scanned over the contents of the room. Only one thought came to his mind: _Hoshit!_

Of course, he wasn't surprised, considering he DID just pass a large group of showgirls. As he looked at the _quite revealing _costume, a number of questions appeared in his mind. Of how to actually pull it off. He stripped down and put it on. Piece by piece he put on the _wonderful _costume so _conveniently _left out for him.

He… it… Stepped over to the vanity with the… war paint… on it.

_Must… not… lose… dignity…_

-**o-**

Kiba Inuzuka was not having a good day. Another report of the elusive killer came up today. This time at the theater the night before the production. His day was brightened when he saw a really hot showgirl today. She had sexy legs and all, but she seemed timid.

_I should go strut my stuff_

He walked over and said, "Hey, pretty lady, 'wanna have dinner tonight?"

She promptly screamed and ran.

_Hmm… reminds me of Hinata_

**-o-**

_NEVER DO I GO TO A THEATER AGAIN!_

Naruto, standing in his nearest secret hideout, which really was just an outdated service module attached to an old rusting tenement, shivered.

His legs, shaven and waxed, and freezing cold, were giving him shivers.

And he shivered even more when he looked at them.

And thought about the COP who HIT ON HIM!

The peacock leotard just _HAD _to have bear-legs, and it just _HAD _to be the only costume there, and it just _HAD _to be in his size.

"I suppose I should be thankful for my luck, but then WHY DOES MY LUCK COME IN FLUFFY LEOTARDS!"

"DAMN YOU YONDAIME!!!!"

**-Fin-**

**-  
**

Did I remove the dignity of my character? Well, this is an OMAKE and didn't really happen unless you want it to…

And now for the **Character Bio(s)**

**-  
**

**Naruto Uzumaki (Namikaze)**

**Born**: Stardate 8213, October 10th.

**Known Accomplices**: Elusive partnership with the unknown character, Cleopatra (inferred), or Cleo.

**Known Aliases**: Goes under the name of Kyuubi when undercover (sorry for Cliché, but for this I don't want to upset anyone)

**Known Weaknesses:** None

**Known Strengths:** Parkour, Disguise, Blending in, Hand-To-Hand combat (brawler), Gunmanship (not preferred), Piloting (Speeder)

-

**Overpowered:**

Did I overpower Naruto? Unfortunatly, I probably did. This whole Parkour thing kind of got out of hand with me. :/

However, do not fear. There shall be a reconing for this. **Spoilers ahead:**

Chakra. The Konoha 15 (+Yondaime and Kushina) will learn the use of Chakra. Nothing can make up for the down-to-earth training Naruto has had from (one of) the smartest intelligence known to man, but Chakra will make the Konoha 15 at least competent.

**Spoilers done**

**-  
**

**Romance: **

I'm not the _best _romance writer, but I will try. Won't give anything away though.

-

**Fighting:**

I am genuinely interested in your input for the main (and pretty much only) fight scene there was . I was somewhat inspired by some of the fighting in Batman Arkham Asylum (game). Look up Batman, Arkham Asylum Drives us Bats on Youtube to see what I mean. The endless fighting variant really seemed to fit the fight.

Alas, I fear I have made some mistake somewhere, so feel free to tell me what you did and did not like.

-

**Reviews:**

**Eterguy**: THANX! I really appreciate the feedback. And yes, I shall take all the time I want… FOREVER! (jk)

**Sandaime23**: Thank you, I appreciate your support for the storyline.

**Ryuou**: Thank you very much.

-

Arc one is done. Thank you all for keeping loyal to me throughout this ordeal. If you hate me for some reason, feel free to leave me flames. If you loved my writing, please leave a long winded review and a request for a personal reply and I will reply to you. (This may not apply if I start getting tons of reviews, but that's far off from now)

Thank you all. Tuxman007 out.

PS: expect the next chapter soon.


	5. Fey Intention

Oh my god. You don't know how hard it was to get off my lazy ass and write. You all thought I abandoned it! And you were right! Until I updated of course. We shall continue then. This made no sense. Forget I wrote this A/N.

-o0o-

A figure stood on an unlit balcony. He stared off into the distance, a large bustling futuristic city ahead of him.

A blue holographic figure appeared next to him on the balcony.

"So... where to now?" a feminine voice asked, animating from the hologram

"I was thinking that we should lay low, maybe work with Orochimaru"

"And train?"

"Yes, that too" he groaned.

-o0o-

"To apprehend this criminal, Naruto Uzumaki, we must learn to deal with his abilities. This is why I have brought you here. To show you this." The Yondaime spoke, pulling out a large scroll.

"A scroll," Sakura Haruno spoke under her breath, a large drop of sweat appearing on her brow and dripping down.

"This scroll holds the secret to his abilities, or so we suspect. If you can learn the technique he used to move so quickly." He continued. "This ability is an ancient martial art style that translates into… chakra…"

"It will allow you to complete superhuman actions, or so it reads." He finished.

"Had I not seen what that kid could do, I wouldn't believe a word your saying. But, can a martial art form really do that?" Kakashi asked.

"I will demonstrate. I have learned a basic exercise from the scroll that may demonstrate what I'm talking about." The Yondaime replied "Behold."

He took out a small leaf.

"…" was the reply of the majority of the characters in the crowd.

He placed it on his forehead, balancing it, and formed a strange seal with his hands. It shot off towards the ceiling.

"It could have been a trick of a draft, or a breeze," Kiba interjected, not believing this joke for a second.

"I don't ask you to believe. I ask you to trust me." The Hokage said, almost poetically. "and I order you to try it out," he added, grinning, which killed the mood.

-o0o-

Naruto slowed down his ship to dock on the small landing pad in front of the seemingly innocent disused mining base. Anyone with a brain knows that mining bases are moved or recycled to build other objects, but anyone with a brain also knew that this was one of Orochimaru's bases of operations.

He waited for the airlock to close around his ship so he could get out safely. As soon as the metal doors closed around his ship, he hopped out, grabbing a briefcase from the side of the ship.

A voice rang out in the landing room;

"Kukuku, what have we here? A lost little boy?"

He turned around without flinching and said, "I think you know who I am Orochimaru."

"I expected more notice, but from you I suppose no notice at all is usual. Luckily the more incriminating parts of my arsenal are on other bases." Orochimaru drawled. "After hearing about your little reunion with your daddy, I thought to tighten security, lest you may be working in cahoots with them."

"Highly unlikely, Orochimaru."

"No? I see… Well then let's talk business."

-o0o-

The two began walking down the corridor, lights sparking up as soon as they neared them, and turning off as soon as they went away from them. They were an ominous green. It might have scared him, but the man he was speaking to, while more civil than usual, would scare him he been scare-able. But he did not fear this man.

"Why have you come to my humble abode?" Orochimaru started.

"I seek a place to lay low and rethink my goals." Naruto replied.

"So that's why your being so friendly. Normally I would think you might attack me outright. But now you want something from me. Heh." Orochimaru spoke.

"What do you want in return?" Naruto asked.

"You won't like it." He warned.

"I don't kill innocents." Naruto stated.

"Well then I suppose you're out of luck. I know you are the one who was the most merciful of The Three, but honestly…" The serpentine man replied.

"I will compromise." He said.

"Fine. You will work with the Sound 5, they could learn a thing or two from you. They all have no face and no name. And you are to cover your face as well. I'm taking a risk as it is." Orochimaru said, pausing.

"Isn't that standard procedure?" Naruto inquired.

"Yes, no acceptions." He finished. "I will contact you when I need you. In the meantime, stay at your base."

Orochimaru walked away.

He was back at his hangar again. Hadn't they walked strait this whole time? Apparantly not. He shrugged.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Naruto muttered.

"A rhino." Cleopatra chimed in, her voice animating from the briefcase.

"The images!" Naruto yelled as he covered his eyes.

-o0o-

The man walked back to his room. It consisted of just a stone chair, with several metal tables to the side. This was where he ordered his minions. The chair resembled a throne, with a full back and full arm rests. He took pride in it, because stone furniture was hard to come by. Everything was metal these days. He sat down.

"Send the message to him. It shall not be long now, before he will be in my clutches…"

"Sasuke… soon you will be mine… kukukukukuku"

Orochimaru laughed maniacally.

"Now all I need to do is keep Naruto and the Sound 5 apart. Perhaps I can dispose of him in the heist… or her."

-o0o-

Sasuke prided himself on being able to overcome any obstacle thrown at him. He was the top of his class. He had earned every drop of pride he has, and he is respected by many and not only because of his blood. Many respected him because of his blood as well, but that was beside the point.

Everything his teachers taught him he has learned without a hitch. All accept this. Chakra. The blasted "energy" seemed to elude him. He focused his "energy" once more.

A small feeling welled up in him. His body felt good, he just noticed. He felt strong. His concentration doubled. He could almost feel-

His phone rang. After a bit of swearing, he picked up his phone. He could swear he was almost _feeling _this chakra thing. Almost.

It was a message. Not someone he knew.

_Meet outside at 5:00 P.M. Do not be late_

Stalker fangirl? Probably.

Chance of being a good use of his time? Small

Chance of being evil older brother? Barely Fesable.

Barely.

-o0o-

5:00 P.M. Outside Martial Arts training studio.

He stepped outside. It was pleasant. The heat from the sun's rays had yet to disappear, yet its visible rays were gone, leaving the dark night sky. It reminded him of that night…

He thought of his brother. How he longed to kill him.

He hoped this wasn't a waste of his time.

"Good Evening, Sasuke." He heard from above. He looked up and saw a red-haired girl, dressed in black.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance" another voice came from his right. A large teen stood there. He reminded him of Chouji.

"We bring a message," a final character, who seemed to have two heads. Only one seemed to be visible, but he knew the other one wasn't just a hairstyle.

"Who are you? He managed to say, quite threateningly. He was tired from his workout, strangely enough. This Chakra thing took a lot of energy, he thought. He pulled his thoughts back to the matter at hand.

"We are the sound four." A spider-like man said. He had six bionic arms, along with his normal two. "Working under the criminal, Orochimaru."

He continued; "When you became part of the K15… oh, that's what we call the Konoha 15, your little team, you stirred up a small worry in the underworld. People in your clan have a reputation to… put many characters behind bars. I see, however, that you are interested in only one character. You know who."

Things just changed for the young Uchiha.

"What do you know about Itachi?"Sasuke yelled, immediately set on edge.

"It's not what I know… It's what Orochimaru knows. And he is willing to tell you for a price."

"What information about him, and at what price."

"Simple. There will be a heist. An act of terrorism to the federation. It will be videotaped and broadcasted. You will watch it, and see what the subordinates of Orochimaru are capable of. He can train you to be able to do this. With this skill, you will be able to kill your brother. You will ponder it" The spider man said.

"And the information?" Sasuke demaded.

"A location at which he will be at a certain time."

"Fine. Which channel?"

"Galexy News, 1106."

-o0o-

Naruto sighed once again. He regretted ever letting Cleopatra analyze his DNA. He had trained vigorously since he got off that colony he lived on, and the hard manual labor that the colony demanded was no walk in the park either. So, naturally he was exceedingly fit. So much so, that when he found Cleopatra, she was impressed. Impressing a human was easy, but an AI automatically expects everything from everyone, and so when it receives more, they are impressed.

So much so that she wanted to test his DNA to see if he was all human. Well, turns out he is, and it also turned out that he had some genes in his DNA that give him superhuman abilities in strength and something complicated Cleopatra described that he believes closely resembles magic. And Cleopatra decided that it would be very useful if he could activate those genes.

Naturally he agreed.

With his training he activated a couple, allowing him to grow stronger. Cleopatra suspects that it was only because he trained from such a young age.

And the training-course-from-hell he was on was her attempt to activate the others.

He could understand some of the exercises. Army crawling, climbing, fighting, whatnot, but did there have to be the supercomputer plotting his every move to make those _GODDAMNED SPIKES_ keep popping out of nowhere. Every time he leaves Cleopatra to her own devices she comes up with another trap, or another obstacle to add to the course.

He has learned to stop leaving her idle.

"Why won't they activate? Curious, I've used every element on the periodic table to test your genes in a Petri dish, but none of them seem to activate. And most naturally occurring energies too." Cleopatra materialized in front of him.

"You used them on the course, too" He said, squinting at her.

"Oh quit your bitching,"

"Hai, Hai."

"I'm starting to think it had to do with your ancestors original planet, and chemical compounds that may be found on it." She said.

"Everyone knows that the home planet has been lost for a thousand years."

"But there are remenants. Museums have more than old space ships to show. An old scroll was just 'rented' from the Interplanetary Solar History Museum by the military."

"How do we know that has anything to do with ancient genes?" Naruto asked, annoyed.

"The Hokage is the one who 'rented' it."

'Obviously not a big respecter of history,' Naruto thought.

"But what does the individual scroll have to do with a compound found on a lost planet?" He asked.

"It could contain amounts of this compound."She replied

"So our next heist is stealing something similar that might also contain this… compound?"

"It's a start."

"Well, we will work on this after Orochimaru's heist is done. Something tells me it was a bad idea to work with him."

Naruto left the room and Cleopatra shut down the training course and turned off the various machines in the room.

A lone figure appeared out of the shadows.

"Kukuku… It seems your 'friend' has quite a few useful abilities, Naruto," he spoke to himself.

"Too many."

The serpentine man walked towards the computer moniter holding a strange piece of technology.

-o0o-

Tayuya sighed. She was sitting in her room, alone, staring at a small picture, half burned off. It contained the likeliness of a young blonde boy.

She reminded herself of her primary mission. To find him.

She heard someone yell, "The images!" Probably some poor new recruit sap.

She had been caught off track. Orochimaru's Sound 5 seemed like a good way to get strong enough to manage herself in the world, but it only resembled a prison now she was in it.

She sighed once again. She had only received a message three minutes ago notifying her that she would be going on a heist soon. But not only that. She would be going with one of the Three. They were legend in the underworld. The three greatest criminals known.

One was her master, Orochimaru, if master was the right word to call him. He had been in crime for more than forty years. He was a genius too.

Another was this character she was going with, called the "killer" in popular culture, which she was so out of touch with.

She knew not of the third, but if the first two were anything to see, the third would be just as bad.

She stared at her room. There was a bed, with purple sheets (Orochimaru had every bed have purple sheets for some odd reason), a small vanity with a stool next to it, and a dresser. There was a bathroom with nothing more than the bare necessities.

There was nothing special about them. She isn't allowed to have any personal belongings.

She does though. Not much; just the picture she holds in her hands, and a small book labeled "To Whom it May Concern," a small comedy book that also detailed the government in the galexy she secretly stole, which she read at least a dozen times.

"I will find you… Naruto."

-o0o-

Guys… I'm sorry for the short update. I couldn't find a way to beef up this chapter more than I already have. I need to leave sufficient stuff for the next chapter as well.

Review please.

**GenocideWolf**- She ain't dead. I included her in this chapter to give a little background story. Enjoy!

I respond to every review, at least, I will until there are too many to respond to, which I don't see happening any time soon.

So please review! Flame if you wish! Please flame! Its better than no review at all. Flames help an open-minded author.

And I will put in omakes if you PM me and send me them.

If you like NarutoSci-Fi, You can take a look at Naruto ARK by Huntersdman. I beta for him.

Sorry for the late update as well. Dunno what was going on, but I blurbed. Will try not to blurb again.


	6. Furtum

A/N Wow never thought the day would come that I might post this so soon. Got an inspiring review and decided that I would post before I take a 5 day vacation away from town in which I would not update. These chapters seem to really come out in chunks.

Without further ado, let the next chapter in A Dead Star commence!

-o0o-

Naruto stood high above the bank on his speeder. Ten thousand feet above, and it was a tall building to begin with. It was cold, but safe luckily. The heist was going to begin at 10:00 P.M: in five minutes.

The Sound 5 would be distracting while he takes as much money as he can grab. It sounded simple, but even with the lack of guards it was going to be difficult.

He checked his parachute a third time. He was wearing a pitch black jumpsuit for the drop. It was dark out, so he suspected it would camouflage him. If he fully trusted Orochimaru's grunts, he would probably be able to wear anything. But as it is, he wasn't planning on taking any chances.

Under his jumpsuit he wore steel-plated boots, colored black, a pair of, unsurprisingly, black pants, and a black long sleeved shirt. He was sweating, and his clothes clung to him, despite the near-freezing temperatures occurring at the height he was at. Over all that, he had a harness holding his parachute on his back and a couple weapons. He wore a pair of gloves.

He checked his watch. Two minutes.

On his face he wore a black facemask, something he picked up from the scarecrow-guy who was part of the Konoha 15. It wasn't such a bad idea. His hair was hidden in a pitch-black headband with no emblem on it. He wore a pair of dark sunglasses. Sunglasses never really affected his vision, and good goggles were hard to come by.

He checked his watch again. One minute to go.

'Screw this'

He jumped.

-o0o-

The Sound 5 entered the building. At first, no one looked. They were five teenagers whom, while dressed in all black, seemed perfectly normal.

Until they pulled out their guns.

The larger boy, Jirobo, held a heavy machine gun in his hands. No one really knew how he hid it under his cloak, but even his teammates looked at him twice.

Kidomaru pulled out some uzis. One was in each hand, which was many considering he had eight hands.

Tayuya held a sub machine gun. Nothing special.

Kimimaro held a pistol in his hand. His teammates knew he was exceedingly good with one.

Sakon held a machete. No one really knew why. He had a second one as well. Despite the lack of technology he was very intimidating.

They all wore black pants with a traditional white kimono underneath with a purple sash. Over it they wore a black cloak. Over their faces they wore ski masks.

This was Orochimaru's trademark uniform. He had his subordinates wear it whenever they went on heists.

All of the guns were pointed in the air and fired.

"Get down on the ground! This is a robbery!" Kidomaru yelled.

Not needing much more prompting the crowd hit the floor. A couple guards started shooting but they were quickly taken down by Kimimaro's good aim with a pistol.

They slowly walked, Tayuya and Jirobo setting up explosives on the various supports and walls. Sakon handed explosives to the people to hold.

"Don't drop them," he said to a little girl who was bawling.

"Shut her up" Kimmimaro ordered.

"With pleasure," he replied. He stuffed one of the bombs into the girls mouth.

After that, they left Kimmimaro behind along with Tayuya to watch the room and moved on to cause more chaos.

-o0o-

Sasuke stared intently at the television. A news report had just started about a terrorist act being committed. The news channel had received an early warning, apparently from someone in the building.

He knew it was probably a lie, the prompt sent in so that the specific channel would be the first on it. This was probably the doing of his "Benefactor".

A knock was heard on the door. He looked out the peep hole. Sakura.

He swore.

He started writing a note. She would break in at some point.

'Went shopping~ will be back soon. Took Sasuke'

There, that was like his mother's handwriting, right?

She had gone shopping and she had a miraculous reputation for taking a _very long time_, so it wasn't a total lie. He hid in the closet.

Sure enough, she broke the door in and read the note. A look of disappointment appeared on her face.

She wrote another note next to it.

After she left, Sasuke read it: 'Sasuke~ The Hokage has requested that the Konoha 15 help at the bank robbery. If you read this, come down and help.'

He looked at it for a moment, a mental battle raging inside of him. In the end he ripped it up and threw it in the trash.

He sat down and turned on the television.

For the first time, Uchiha Sasuke disobeyed orders.

-o0o-

Fourteen people arrived on the site. The road was blocked off, and the police were engaged in a gunfight. Three people from above the ground floor were firing, and two people on the ground floor were doing the same. They were really good shots, because many officers were already down.

"Thank god you're here!" The first officer yelled. "This fight has been going on for just a few minutes and my men are already pinned down!"

"What's the situation?!" Kakashi yelled back.

"There are five shooters, two on the bottom and three who keep moving around on the top. My snipers can't get a fix on them! We haven't heard from the special forces we sent to the landing pad on the top."

"Keep trying! Ino, Shino, take sniper rifles and hit the rooftops! Kiba, Tenten, provide fire support! Lee, Hinata, Sakura, support the officers! Shikamaru, Chouji, work with the officer here! Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, on me! Lets go!"

The various soldiers separated into different directions, the Jonin moving around to the back of the bank holding duffel bags.

"There's only one entrance!" the officer yelled.

"We're going to make one!" Asuma yelled, smiling.

The officer widened his eyes.

-o0o-

Naruto had to dispatch the officers that landed on the roof. They actually landed before him and so he was able to drop his parachute to confuse two of him and knock out the third by landing on him. He suspected that would hurt in the morning. He knocked out the other five and gave a solid kick to the two who were still squirming around under his parachute. He tied them all up.

Inside the building, he found few guards, all of them having probably gone down to try to support their friends and get the Sound 5. Quickly finding the level with the safe, he began to try to spot out traps.

He was actually quite surprised. While being a complete creep, and probably pedo, Orochimaru sure knew how to cause a distraction. He paused.

This was the first trap. He sprayed the room with a material that would show any trip lasers.

'Whoa' he thought.

There was a solid line of trip lasers blocking his path along with a number of them rotating around. He would have to use mirrors for this one.

He sneaked around the rotating ones, and set the first mirror in place. He ran up the wall and in an intense display of acrobats, placed the second mirror which redirected enough lasers for him to get through.

He landed, and heard a red buzzing noise. _Shit_

He landed on a rotating laser.

Immediately an alarm ran throughout the building. He didn't have much time. He made a mad dash for the safe. A number of spikes burst through the seemingly innocent carpet and he thanked his lucky stars that Cleopatra taught him how to avoid them.

Bullets started shooting out of the walls and he thanked his luck once again that he had remembered to wear a Kevlar vest.

He finally made it to the safe, and began working with the old-fashioned lock. With all the noise it was impossible to hear the clicks, so he had to go on vibration through his fingers alone. It was a daunting task.

He just barely made it through the lock when ten guards popped their heads into the room containing the safe room.

They began firing machine guns.

'They can't have those, machine guns are illegal for civilians!' he thought, but, looking down, saw his machine gun hanging on his harness. 'Oh, right'

Pulling it out, he fired until they all hid. He wasn't a really good shot with this type of weapon.

Grabbing as many duffel bags of cash as he could hold, he made a mad dash for the exit.

As he screamed through, he saw all of the guards, about to poke their heads out to fire once more. They were reasonably surprised, and so he was able to make about thirty yards before they fired upon him once again. One bullet dug into his leg, and another to his upper arm. Three hit his back, and two got through the Kevlar.

'SHIT!' he thought as he began to limp. They would be able to catch up if he couldn't hurry.

He grabbed a small remote from his harness, pressed a button, and hid behind cover as the guards began to fire at him.

They began to approach him, and he had no choice.

He jumped out the window… and landed on his speeder which he called to hover under it.

'That was close. Jeese, Orochimaru, how important of a bank are you trying to rob?' Was his final thought before he passed out from the pain in his leg and torso. His speeder turned on auto-pilot and sped home.

-o0o-

"The fox has left the building" a shrill voice animated from Kidomaru's phone.

"Time's up! Lets go!" he yelled moments after.

"Right! I'll tell Kimmimaro" Sakon yelled as he dialed on his phone.

"Jirobo! Let's go!" Kidomaru yelled.

-o0o-

Tayuya and Kimmimaro were on either side of the door into the building.

Kimmimaro's phone rang.

He turned it on and heard, "Kimmimaro, get Tayuya and let's get out of here!"

He yelled to Tayuya. She didn't hear him. He motioned. She nodded,

-o0o-

"Kakashi said non-lethal takedowns only!" Kiba yelled. Tenten nodded affirmative.

"Wait, I see them!" Kiba yelled in surprise.

"I'll take the shot!" Tenten yelled back.

-o0o-

Kimmimaro made a run for the stairs. They were near him. Tayuya ran after.

He reached the stairs and looked at Tayuya. She was sprinting, but she had to go into the open.

-o0o-

Tenten aimed her rifle and squeezed the trigger.

-o0o-

Tayuya went down. Kimimaro weighed his options, and decided that the same fate would befall him if he tried any heroics. Besides, he was a minion of Orochimaru. Why try to be heroic?

He ran up the stairs.

-o0o-

"Where's Tayuya!?"

"She was left behind."

Kidomaru looked at him for a moment, then nodded.

They grabbed their speeders and broke through the windows out towards Orochimaru's base.

-o0o-

Sasuke was confused. He knew those were Orochimaru's forces, but on the other side was his team.

In the beginning, he was close to cheering his side on, like he might at a soccer game. But later, he was watching the other side intently. That one guy with the pistol was amazingly good. The guy with the eight uzi's had amazing firepower. He wasn't sure what to think.

When he thought of the Konoha 15, his team, his blood boiled. He couldn't explain it.

But there was skill in the minions of Orochimaru. Skill he has seen in only one other person. The killer. Uzumaki Naruto.

The only person who had bested him in a fair fight besides someone in his own family or perhaps a trainer who had dedicated their lives to martial arts was this Naruto. It infuriated him.

He wanted to kill that man… and he wanted to defeat his… rival.

He was truly jealous of the person he called rival. Somehow he had attained the skill to best many people in combat. Perhaps he could beat the Konoha 15 in combat. There were only two hand-to-hand combat specialists in them, not including him. He could probably take them.

But somehow his rival had beaten them all. It sickened him that an Uchiha had been bested by some criminal. He hated criminals. Everyone in his family did. He was no different.

The Uchiha were a traditionally self-righteous people. He had to best the criminal whom had bested him. A stepping stone towards his final goal. To defeat That Man.

He would look into this Orochimaru character. And who knows? Maybe the date they will give him will show promise.

-o0o-

She opened her eyes a bit, and then closed them. The light was blinding. Depending on her other senses, she assumed she was on a bed. She had a wound, if the blinding pain coming from her left leg was anything to tell.

She could hear a steady beeping. A hospital then.

From what she felt, she was wearing one of those flimsy-as-hell hospital gowns.

She absentmindedly felt the print on the gown. A leaf. Shit.

She was in a Konoha military hospital. Surely an interrogation would soon commence. As soon as they found out that she was awake.

She remembered her training about torture from Orochimaru.

'Never say any information. They already know you are from me, if you are wearing your uniform. It is best to not open your mouth at all.'

Yeah right. She would take amnesty if they offered it to her. Orochimaru meant very little to her.

Still, she had injured, perhaps killed, several policemen. Torture and interrogation was probably her road. And it was one way. At best she might get tried as a minor and receive 25 to life.

The door creaked open

'Here they come, she thought'

A/N

And that's a wrap! R&R please! A flame is better than no review at all.

The truth about this update is that from my (one) review, I was inspired to make this update. It isn't all the material I was planning on covering, but at the same time I wanted to reward my readers with a double-update, and apologize for the two short updates.

**Reapling** Thanks for the inspiring review. Really, you made me write this chapter so soon. And I will work on the descriptions. Something I had overlooked.

Next time: The conclusion to the second arc!


	7. Redemptio

Well here's the next installment. This chapter concludes the second arc of A Dead Star. The A/N is at the bottom.

-o0o-

Naruto laid on his bed. Orochimaru had just came to collect the money. Luckily he was awake, or the damn snake would have taken all the money. He kept a little for himself on the side.

Well, a little would be an understatement, but his food and supplies had to come from somewhere…

So maybe he didn't need a full quarter of the prophets, but it was his right at least. He did steal it.

And he was injured in the heist. Of course, he wasn't too worried about his health: he had the most advanced medical technology at his disposal.

Nano medical robots were the option to treat his wounds he was considering now. They were small robots that went into the affected area to break things over and over until it healed correctly. With proper painkillers, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, but it was particularly imprecise.

Cleopatra did, however, inform him that, left alone, the wounds on his legs, back, and arm wouldn't heal correctly.

So he was looking at different treatment options. So far the Nano medical robots seemed like the best idea. He had to tell Cleo to restock in various painkillers.

"This one will do."

-o0o-

"Oh, Naruto?" Cleopatra spoke, almost unsure.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Erm…" She smiled "I figured out that there is an opening in the guard at a Konoha military base. It should be open to attack. Also, they have the scroll there."

"The scroll?"

"Yes… the one the government stole." She clarified.

"I see. Hmm, well how bad is the guard?" Naruto questioned.

"If we're… I mean, I'm… correct, there should be only twenty combat personnel at the base."

"Wow, that's scrimp for a Konoha base. Maybe a Suna one, but Konoha? Hmm…" Naruto spoke. He paused for a moment, then said, "We would be fools not to take this opportunity. At the same time we should be careful."

"Indeed." Cleopatra slowly replied.

-o0o-

Cleopatra was a mess. Her "conscious" was imprisoned by some strong computer virus that took control of her functions. Now she was only a floating process of thought.

Technically, this "thought" shouldn't exist, but ever since she met Naruto this function seemed to grow. Now it was all she had.

The virus was almost surely Orochimaru. He approached her the night before the heist, attaching some kind of device to her while she was "sleeping".

She wouldn't have known what had happened when she was shut down unless she had those security cameras hidden around the room.

She tried not to worry about Naruto and what the virus was making her do.

Worry? She was a machine. She had no worry, right?

She got back to work. The virus appeared to be a control that used her primary systems as they are. If it was communicating, it was using her "voice" and "actions" to talk to Naruto, or whoever it was communicating with.

If she could reprogram her primary outer communication functions, just enough to notify Naruto, she could probably get him to remove the virus.

"Two can play at this game," she "thought."

-o0o-

Tayuya held her breath as someone entered through her door.

Probably the head of interrogation. Ibiki was his name, and he was legend in the underground for using _their_ tactics, but in a legitimate organization. Only a true professional sadist would be able to get paid for torturing people in _this _economy.

Although, if they were serious about thinking she was a threat, they would have restrained her to the bed. As it was, everything seemed like a normal hospital.

Accept the security camera. Wait…

'_Security camera?' _

She had just noticed it. In the right corner part of the ceiling. How could she not have noticed it before? How out of it was she?

Then she remembered the door opening. She must be thinking very fast. Whoever it was, it could only be her doom.

She would have fallen over if she wasn't already sitting down when a blond-haired man walked in. He resembled her beloved lost to her, but he obviously wasn't.

She didn't recognize him other than that. She wasn't particularly well informed about political figures, as all her excursions outside Orochimaru's base involved either eliminating one (therefore, making any knowledge of them moot) or stealing. Some faces she did see on billboards and such, but nothing really stuck.

So, she went at conversation like she always did.

"I want some food, dumbfuck."

It was almost second nature.

-o0o-

The Yondaime was miffed by the girl they captured. She would say nothing, and the DNA tests had yet to get back. They would take some time.

In the meantime, he thought about the recent happenings.

First, his wife was back with him. It made him very happy. But explaining what happened to _their son_ was very difficult.

And their prisoner would not communicate until she had some food apparently.

He would probably have to call Ibiki, but he wanted to try some alternate methods with her.

His mind wandered to the bank heist that happened a day earlier. For how large a bank it was, and how much security they had, well, he was surprised. And worried. After a full military search of the building, there was a large puddle of blood, along with four splatters on the ground.

Forensics said they were from bullets piercing a target and coming out the other side. The puddle was from the victim taking cover from fire. It continued in a trail towards the window where it stopped.

From the testimonies of the guards at the bank, it was probably his son's blood. When this revelation originally hit him, he was worried sick. The scientists said if it was an average adult male, they would probably survive.

He had asked them if it was a child, hoping they wouldn't suspect anything. The criminal they caught was a minor, so he figured it wasn't too out of the question.

"I think, that, were this blood to belong to a minor, they would probably bleed out in a matter of hours, if intense high level medical care were not applied immediately." Was the answer he heard. He ordered the scientists not to process the blood DNA.

It was hard for him to accept. He still didn't. His son was alive, wasn't he?

He realized that, by saying that, he was also saying 'His enemy was still alive', but he couldn't think of his son as his enemy.

They didn't see eye-to-eye. Luckily, if this action means anything, his son has dropped trying to kill him.

It was improvement, at least. Trying to rebuild a relationship is challenging when the person who you are trying to get to know is actively trying to kill you.

Of course, that would imply there was a relationship to begin with. Maybe on his side, but he knew that Naruto still didn't like him at all. If he was lucky, they might end up as acquaintances.

And he would need to get his military to stop chasing him, which, frankly he really couldn't do. There was still a large active investigation to track one Naruto Uzumaki down. He might try to start there.

He also had the help of his wife, which may have a better chance at befriending their son.

He stopped thinking, and got to work on their new prisoner.

-o0o-

"So what's your name?"

Silence.

"You know, this will only get harder for you if you don't answer."

Silence once more.

"Listen, what do you want?"

"Food, fucker!" Well, at least she could talk.

"Food is on the way."

"Fine, make your offer, or whatever the hell you are going to do," the girl replied.

" Well, I suppose this is really a formality, but, if you can give us information about the heist you were in and who you work for, I may be able to lower your sentence," he said.

"Fine. I work for Orochimaru, if the uniform is anything to tell. The heist was to get money so Orochimaru could spend it. He didn't tell us anything other than that."

"Us?"

"The Sound 5. We are… were… his top minions besides his little butt buddy Kabuto." She said.

Naruto was part of the Sound 5? It was proven he was there, but they were far away from each other. He was at least thirty floors above them for his blood to have been…

"Erm… Kabuto?"

"He's Orochimaru's personal computer nerd and whatever-else-Orochimaru-wants guy"

"I see. Any other characters you know of?" he questioned.

"Yea, the other guy besides the Sound 5 that the heist went with" She replied.

Or maybe he was a third party.

"He was, apparently, one of, "the Three"

The Three. The most infamous criminals in the underworld. He but two of them. If his son is the third, well, that solves quite a few problems. Many part of his conscience.

But first to be sure.

"Did any of the Sound 5 have blond hair?"

"What kind of shitty question is that? Of course not." She replied quite eloquently.

He sighed in relief.

"That will be all for now, Tayuya. I shall hold Ibiki's leash for the time being.

She stared wide-eyed at him for a moment. He had the authority to do that?

"Who are you?"

"The Hokage, of course."

She had just badmouthed the most powerful man in the galaxy and he was doing her a favor.

-o0o-

The fifteen Konoha operatives had been training for about an hour. Things had calmed down sufficiently.

All wearing the traditional Konoha Gi, consisting of a white long sleeved shirt with the Konoha symbol emblazoned on it and plain black pants, the Konoha 15 worked on this, "Chakra" which was beginning to truly progress.

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke had received no reprimand for his 'convenient' absence from the last event at the bank. They believed his fib, and nothing went horribly wrong without him so everything was chill.

Sasuke was next to ecstatic today. A letter had arrived addressed to him. It only held a few words. 'Top of Terracorp building, Fire City, 8:00 P.M., October 10.'

That was tonight. He was going to be prepared. He was going to kill his brother today.

For preparations, he planned on finishing training early, taking a nice nap, having a shower, eating a little, and resting until an hour before, in which he was to go and stake out the rooftop.

He decided that he would approach with a pistol. Trying to snipe him might not work. His sniping skills were less than he would have liked. And, while satisfying it may be, it wasn't what he plotted his brother's death to be. He might fight in melee for a bit, or perhaps just talk, then shoot him. Or incapacitate, then talk, then execute. There were so many options. He really looked forward to tonight.

"Sasuke, do you want to go get lunch?" Sakura asked him.

"No. Get out of my way, bitch!" he said back. She was always in the way, holding him back.

A few tears welled up in her eyes as he walked away.

-o0o-

Sasuke was watching the rooftop from inside a ventilation box on the top. These old machines were useful for just about nothing, but many buildings still had them. He wore the same outfit from training, being comfortable and warmed-up in it, he wanted to be at utmost efficiency for this.

A figure entered the rooftop. He wore a suit. Not Itachi. He held a briefcase in his hand.

Sasuke aimed his pistol at him to be safe.

The man stood there for a moment, nervously. He was plump, and had his back turned to the Uchiha. He paced foreward for a moment and turned around.

He was Gato Terra, the owner of _The_ Terracorp. The largest company on this side of the galaxy. It was impossible to even get this close to him, even for the military.

Companies that spanned planets tended to have power rivaling the government. This man in particular could probably wipe out Konoha with his hired guns and warships.

It was common knowledge to anyone who had a brain that Gato's business wasn't exactly good in all aspects. They had many shady dealings, even ruining the economy of different planets for their personal gain. Recently, the planet Wave, a world covered in water, kicked the bucket due to them. It is in economic peril.

Wave was out of Konoha's jurisdiction, though. Being a lone planet in a lone system, it didn't have enough resources to warrant its own military. It was theoretically protected by the government controlling the galaxy.

Unfortunatly, this was not the case for many of them, because companies like Terracorp have basically taken control over the systems to keep them under their control and monopoly. Prices skyrocket and everyone is too poor to pay, but too poor to leave. And the government wouldn't dare resist, or else the makers of their supplies would go down and out.

Such was the system. He might do the world a favor by killing this man right here right now.

But, his personal vendetta came before this. If he killed Gato, well, he would lose whatever chance came from this. Another just as bad would probably take over anyway.

So he waited.

Eventually another figure appeared on the rooftop.

Sasuke's blood boiled. It was Itachi. He could tell by the height and hair. Everything was dark, so he couldn't tell much else.

He waited for a moment…

"Mr… Uchiha… I… umm, have the money… here. Its good money, yes. Nothing wrong with it. Not that I would do anything," Gato said, laughing nervously.

"Hand it over" The figure said. Gato approached him and handed him the case.

"Now go" the figure continued, "and we will continue to spare your life."

So his brother was working with someone. He was glad he could hold his temper this well. Whenever he imagined this moment, he felt like going beserk. This time he planned on showing the calmness and collectivity that he shows in his normal life.

He couldn't imagine killing his brother by charging in to kill him guns blazing. He would probably get killed, or worse.

In a distant universe, a different Sasuke sneezed before charging his Chidori and rushing at a different Itachi.

He waited for the right moment. Gato went back into the building and Itachi stood there.

He took aim…

And fired!

It clipped him! Not where he wanted, on the chest, but on the shoulder. His evil brother took cover behind something.

"Damn," he said, before breaking out of the object he was hiding in. The aluminum machine stood no chance.

His brother fired a few shots at him, but he took cover as well. It was an all out gunfight, and he felt that his brother was acting quite predictably. He always fired in the same place in the same intervals. Kind of odd.

He paused.

"Shit," he said and turned around, only to be thrust against the wall by Itachi's hands.

"You are weak" Itachi drawled.

Sasuke struggled.

"Do you know why you are weak?"

Sasuke tried to break free, but couldn't. He heard the question, and was wondering what his bastard of a brother was trying to say.

"You lack…"

Itachi pulled out his gun.

"Hate" his brother whispered in his ear before shooting him point blank in the chest.

He fell down unconscious.

Itachi fell against the wall. His shoulder hurt like shit.

'Yet you have improved.' He thought before mounting his speeder and flying away.

-o0o-

Naruto looked down at the base. It sure as hell looked busy, but if the intel was right…

Cleopatra was always right, and she hadn't told him any updates…

He received a message from her at that moment.

'Things are not what they seem.' It said.

Well, it wasn't like her to be cryptic. He would ponder this later. He looked back to the base.

There were three entry options he saw. He could break through one of the glass roofs. There seemed to be more than 20 combatants, but probably not many more. It would take them time to respond.

Alternatively, he could go through the sewer systems like he did the last military base he invaded. They had probably upped security on the sewers though. And his leg _still_ really hurt. It

It was hard to move, almost. He was trained, but even with a wound such as the one he had… Cleopatra had urged him to move quickly before the opening was gone, and the wounds had set correctly with minimal damage. However, they were still healing. He was sure if he strained himself it would open.

He could also enter via explosives and breach. The base had a hospital attached to it, and so he assumed that security was probably lax in that specific area. It was connected but they probably didn't consider it part of their base.

He grabbed a large duffel bag of explosives. He liked the breach idea.

He arrived at the chosen wall. It was situated in an alleyway. This was one of the only parts of the building that was made out of bricks. To outsiders on the street it probably looked like he was working on the bricks to renovate them. Bricks had slowly been removed over the past century.

Of course, if they were still here they were either extremely important to the support of the building, or just extremely out-of-the-way, and not important enough to replace.

He hoped it was the latter, because they were going to have to replace it now. He shouldered his assault rifle. He really didn't like using guns, besides snipers because of the trouble they saved you. They were too inaccurate. You could kill someone when you are trying to wound them.

But, when breaching looks are more important and he wants to scare any civilians enough to getting out of his way. He wasn't expecting any soldiers in the area he was breaching.

'Here goes nothing' he thought and hit the detonator.

-o0o-

When he popped his head in after the explosion there was already a guard shooting at him. He was relatively surprised, but he supposed he just got the luck of the draw. He quickly shot the guard in the foot and knocked him out.

He would have brought a silencer, but he had already blasted down the wall, so he figured there wasn't any point.

The young criminal dashed through the hallway, stopping to mentally check where the map said the scroll was.

'If Cleopatra was right, it should be in the Military base's left wing, which borders the hospital.' He thought.

He was lucky he started off so close to it. He climbed three stairways to deter anyone from following him on the first floor, though he didn't see anyone.

He ran without a hitch until he hit a large entry hall from the hospital and the military base. It wouldn't have been a problem, but the Konoha 15, sans one, entered on the other side, albeit three floors down.

Naruto really hoped they didn't see him, but lo and behold, Shino cried out, "He's on the third floor!"

Things were really bad now. They knew where he was, and they all looked significantly better in martial arts. He decided that he would try to avoid them until he had his objective.

'Weren't there supposed to be few guards?' he thought as he ran to the closest doorway.

The game was cat and mouse now. They would be forced to split up, and he could probably take any one that he encountered.

He checked his watch. It had a small compass that pointed at his target. Right now it pointed… to the right and down. He opened random doors, most of the room being private offices, most emptied; armories, tempting but no; or bedrooms, until he found a stairwell. This probably lead to the Konoha 15 at some point, but he wasn't complaining.

He ran down the stairway and noticed that one of them was already on the bottom floor.

'I think her name was Tenten…' he thought as he opened the door to the second floor. She pulled a machine gun from somewhere and started firing. 'Don't have time for you.' He hastily thought. He ran on the second floor now, making erratic turns to lose her.

A window was ahead. He ducked into a janitor's closet and pulled out a rubber water hose. He fastened it to the closest doorknob and broke the window. Testing the hose for his weight, he repelled down to the bottom floor. He cut the hose behind him.

They were all probably on the second floor, as Tenten probably alerted the others. He waited a moment to catch his breath, and then ran again.

Now his watch was pointing to his left. He finally closed in on a room and burst it open.

Jackpot. The scroll was sitting there in their dojo. He grabbed it, rolled it up, and fastened it to his back. Obviously the makers of the scroll had an odd sense of humor, for it was huge. Something was written in Kanji, a known but not used letter set from older times.

He ran out of the dojo and into the hallway. He had only gone a couple yards when half of the Konoha 15 came into the other side of the hallway. He pulled his assault rifle and began firing. He wasn't really aiming, bur really just stalling until he thought up another plan.

He decided that he would try to find a place to hide to evade them and then dash in the other direction.

Making a break for it, he was only clipped on his side. Unfortunately the wound on his shoulder and leg both opened, doubling the effort it took to run. He was able to manage.

He looked back towards the Konoha 15.

-o0o-

Cleopatra had finally gotten a hold on that virus. Luckily she was able to thrash it, rip it to pieces, and cook up one of her own and send it back at whoever sent it in the first place. But her first priority was to find what happened.

She had given Naruto some incorrect information about an army assault and now he was in there. He contacted his communicator.

-o0o-

"Naruto?" a voice sounded in his ear.

"Cleo! Man am I glad to hear your voice!"

"Listen Naruto I had a virus and gave you incorrect information while the snake man was controlling me! You have to get out of there, the Konoha 15 as well as over one hundred men are encroaching on your position!" she said.

"Tell me something I don't know!" he yelled into his headset. "But shit, Orochimaru? He's gonna pay…"

"You'll have to get out of there first. I'll guide you through this, but you have to listen to me…"

"OK!"

-o0o-

The killer, Naruto Uzumaki, had seemed to say something, and then run in a seemingly random direction. To Asuma it seemed as if he was receiving directions…

"Guys, I think he's receiving directions from someone!" Asuma yelled suddenly.

"Follow him," Kakashi yelled.

They did so.

-o0o-

"Right turn!"

Naruto turned right.

"Third door!"

He entered the third door closest to him.

"Closet door!"

He opened the closet door.

"Ceiling grate!"

He opened the ventilation grate and entered the ventilation shaft.

"Third junction!"

He opened the grate back out at the third intersection.

"Don't move"

He stayed still as he heard a large number of footsteps pass him.

"Okay, wait ten seconds, then leave"

He waited… five… four… three… His hand jerked at the door… two…

"Wait-" Cleopatra said, but it was too late. Naruto opened the door and one of the soldiers saw him.

"Doorway on the right" Cleopatra yelled into his ear.

He complied, and ran down the corridor the doorway lead to.

"Left room,"

Naruto entered the room on the left. It was the control room.

"Wait here."

By this point all of Naruto's wounds had opened, and he would be leaving a trail of blood if it were not for the excessive bandaging he had on.

Naruto slowly approached the computer terminal. It was a security terminal, and apparently at some point he had entered the hospital part of the base. Maybe it could tell him where his enemies were.

He turned on the monitor.

A dozen room camera feeds fed in. He scanned each one…

Each one held nothing. He set it to the next page of rooms.

He froze.

Under prison containment unit, there was a redhead. A very familiar looking one. One right out of his dreams and goals.

"Tayuya…" he whispered.

-o0o-

Something mad drove him as he sprinted like never before. There were six guards in his way. He shoved one into the others, and knocked them down while he sped past. Bullets flew by, one clipping him. He didn't slow. He ran faster. He dropped his rifle.

He dropped that damn scroll he had been carried. How come he brought it anyway?

He ran until he got to the room. No one had been able to follow him. Some terrible energy made him strong.

He barged in the door and saw…

Her. She wasn't how he remembered her.

Her red hair, now long, was covered by a black cap. She never wore black. She said she hated the color. Did he imagine that?

Her face was reminiscent of what it once was, but now it was mature. Her body had indeed matured as well.

He would have admired her longer, but he had a job to do. She was out, connected to a drip. He slowly removed the needle from her arm and called his speeder to come under the window. He waited a moment, and then kicked the glass so it shattered into a million tiny pieces.

Naruto tenderly grabbed his love and hopped down and landed on his just-arrived speeder.

He had found her.

She was alive.

-o0o-

A/N REVIEW! A flame is better than nothing. A review that says the things that are bad is worth a lot to an author.

And wow, this chapter was long. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this story. Before I thank the reviewers, I intend to inform you all that I may not update for a while as the whole next arc has to be written. The plot summary and action sequence, mainly. I don't write a chapter-by-chapter story. It is supposed to be a method to stem writer's block. Soo… yea… still planning the next Arc. Don't expect me to take too long.

I had a small part about Sasuke because I felt that there were so many Itachi confrontation scenes and I never really had one I liked. So I went off on a tangent and wrote this little one for the Sasuke fans. Hope you enjoyed the calm and collected Sasuke.

And now the reviewer corner!

**Myobu-Uzumaki** – Thanks for the input. I pride myself on being creative in my fictions. And I kind of agree about Naruto. I just can't write him as dark, because he always comes off as such a cheerful character to me. Ah, well. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.

And finally, make your omakes people because the intermission will be posted soon. So glad to be writing for you all, and yes, I did write this whole arc in the course of three days. Hooray for little homework and too much time.

Peace and Love, Tuxman007.


	8. Interission 2

INTERMISSION

**Welcome to your funky intermission from Tuxman007. **

**Before I thank the reviewers and give the sneak peek; a couple notes.**

**First, I'm back from the summer, which had an erratic order of things. You may (or may not) be able to expect a steady chapter rate, but hopefully I can figure out something.**

**Second, I apologize sincerely for the long wait. I cannot promise it won't happen again, but maybe reviews would make a good incentive… not holding the fact that 1 out of every 500 people review on average (seriously!) against anyone, and certainly not you my good reader.**

**Third, I'm currently very busy, so the next update may wait a week or two before I can write it.**

**Now on to the reviewer's page. **

**Its all for the reviewers. Until I have so many reviews I can't address everyone, I will give a response IN CHAPTER to every reviewer. Just a thanks to the people who keep me going.**

**-o0o-**

**Reviewers Column**

**Northam: Yeah, neither can I… Well, I wrote another chapter so I hope you are happy :)**

**Nulled Lucied: It is truly beaten to death. Some might mistaken it with a "Naruto gets beaten half his life" story… Eh?**

**D3: They escaped. Just picture hundreds of speeders in a path, and one anonymously being added into the mix. Chase much? Nope. Maybe I should have though. I'll consider another high speed chase. Whatever works, bro.**

**Pryde Kitty: They've been apart so long, I would have been killed by my own characters had I not reunited them as soon as I did :D**

**Anonymous: Ah, a good Anon review. Well, to tell the truth, I do criticize myself for telling the story like that… If I was to revise the story, I would definitely change that. Thanks for the other compliments about the plot. Its reviewers like you that keep me writing. (Note the lack thereov)**

**Tristan76: They live because I would have two bitter angsty characters without them alive, and I want my characters to have a chance at happiness. :D And yes, I like cliffhangers.**

**Shadowgouf: Thank you. Reviewers like you keep me going, and so I thank you.**

**Lumenatrum: Well, that's the best compliment I've gotten in a while. I suppose my writing is above the substandard work you typically see. Thanks a lot. It does mean a lot.**

**You see these people? They're awesome. They're the best. They keep the best and worst of us writers going. And they are you. Or they can be. Reviewing makes someone's day. So review. Not necessarily here, not necessarily now, but any input is crucial to an author, be it bad or good. Hell, if you flamed I would still thank you for your input.**

**-o0o-**

**And now for a sneak peek…  
**

_Only one house was lit up, illuminating the dark terrace, with overgrown bushes and thorny plants. A small path was cleared between the brambles leading to the house._

"_Most places were abandoned after Gato moved in. The smart ones left. The weak ones joined him. The strong ones died fighting, and the dumb ones like this guy and I stuck around."_

"_What about the local government?" Naruto asked, gingerly holding Tayuya bridal style._

"_It exists, but is too weak to do anything. I hear they're planning to join up with Konoha's dominion to get Gato, but nothing has happened as of yet. They are only rumors though."_

"_That's good, I suppose." Naruto said slowly._

_They reached the entrance to the house with lights on. _

"_End of the line kid. I'll talk to him, but after that I 'gotta go. Taking enough chances as it is."_

_The bartender pushed the doorbell situated on the traditional "wood" door. After a moment, it opened to show a young woman in her thirties. She seemed accustomed to worry, and certainly looked older than her age._

"_We're here to see Tazuna, on business.__**"**_

…**Hope this makes you hungry for the next chapter, which I am holding for a little while before I release it. (need to revise, and whats the point of a sneak peek if I was going to release it on the spot, neh?)**


	9. Secundus Imperator

**Hey guys, Tuxman007 here with the next installment of A Dead Star. Enjoy!**

(System: Tel) Wave City, Planet Tel-Mar, Unknown time.

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he looked at the clock. In this system, it was four in the morning, but he had been up for going on forty hours. He was tired.

He set down Tayuya on the cheap bed in the room he had rented from the first hotel he could find that had a policy of ask-no-questions, and was old enough to lack identity scanners. Though he normally wouldn't go through the trouble, it seemed like the entire Mal System was on high alert.

Identity scanners were a device used to quickly scan and reference someone's appearance to anyone in a database (Which he hoped he wasn't in) to identify people. It was implemented when the galactic empire got so big it was impossible to find anyone, and a practical way to contact people was to install identity scanners in most government facilities.

Hotels that were old enough and small enough to lack these scanners were far and few between, and they did their best to stay under the radar for this very reason. It is the reason that his companion now also rests on an old-fashioned spring mattress with sheets and blankets. He himself had slept in them back when he was living at the colony, and sometimes when newer forms

Oddly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, this hotel seemed to be doing the best of those he'd passed. Sure, some of them were towering spires, but they have somewhere along the line lost their luster.

"_It must be Gato_' he thought.

Gato was a ruthless businessman who was known for his practices that tended to oppress, kill, rape, and generally abuse the population of the planets where he bases his operations from. Tel-Mar, the only planet in the Tel solar system, was his base of operations. He, of course, wouldn't spend time on the surface, but rather in a space station far above the atmosphere.

On this specific planet, he's closed off all trade, shut down almost all ships, and most importantly demolished all space elevators, which has effectively ended any trade and prosperity this planet once had.

Were the Tel solar system in the jurisdiction of its closest military power: Konoha military, things would be different for Gato, but unfortunately it was outside of its dominion. But due to a stroke of bad luck, the Tel system wasn't strong enough to generate its own military, and so the oppression reigned.

Now Gato profits off of mining, having already bought and destroyed or liquidated most businesses.

Naruto had pondered killing Gato for the purpose of doing it, but Gato had the right connections and was smart. He wouldn't be caught somewhere where Naruto could get to him. A sign of a smart man that is.

Now he was stuck on this planet, at least for the time being.

The only reason he was here in the first place was because Orochimaru bombed his base while he was on his mission. Cleopatra was luckily able to escape with his ship and actually bring an amount of supplies (and money), which is impressive considering she's an artificial intelligence. Unfortunately his ship needed repairs to the engine.

'_Cleopatra has her ways, and I'd be dead without them'_ Naruto mused.

Now she was "sleeping" in the ship, which was awaiting repairs and a refuel. The challenge would not be in actually paying for them, but rather finding someone who could do them without Gato noticing. This would be an issue.

His eyes wandered to his prone companion. She still hadn't woken up. He estimated that it would be another few hours before the drip wore off and she could awaken. She was at the forefront of his mind, and yet, he couldn't think about her much. It was too soon, or maybe too late.

He looked at his wounds. They would need treating eventually as well. Cleopatra managed to stabilize them, but he would need to see a doctor before he did any strenuous activities… meaning everything in his line of business.

'_I will have to contact the locals. I'm sure there are some willing to do a quiet and quick operation, both for me and my ship, and good money is good'_

With this musing, he laid down next to his companion on the bed. It was a small bed, so they were relatively close together, but he didn't care much. He couldn't quite get over the fact that she was finally back.

-o0o-

Naruto felt odd as he woke up. A strange sensation covered his body, one he remembered from long ago. For once, he wasn't tense as his mind slowly reached its normal capacity. He felt at peace, strangely.

His eyes opened, but closed from the air.

"Awake finally?" a beautiful voice spoke. Somehow, any worries melted away as he opened his eyes again to stare at his companion, Tayuya. She stared back, lovingly, into his newly opened eyes.

He stared for a moment, not comprehending what was going on for a moment, before realizing with a start what was happening.

"Tayuya…You're beautiful." He croaked, surprised at the sound of his own voice. His mouth slowly curved into a stupid grin that seemed out of character on his usually serious face. They were close on the small bed. He had a great view of her.

He took a moment to look at her body. She was small, dirty, not well endowed or particularly feminine, but she was his. He was hers. That was all he needed, and she felt the same. He relaxed for the first true time in years as he stared at her face.

Her shoulders shook as she giggled at his expression. They were almost kids again, Naruto couldn't help but think.

Tayuya stared at him. They were with each other. Now they could be happy. All of her time training and working for Orochimaru was over. Now she could be with Naruto. Her Naruto.

"It's been a long time." Naruto said finally, not capable of feeling bad about anything.

She looked back at him. "I missed you." She spoke, telling him of the only emotion that she had for the past years, the thing that she cried herself to sleep every night thinking about.

They looked at each other for a moment. She leaned in close as both their faces became more and more red. Their bodies neared, silhouettes intertwining. She laid a kiss upon his cheek, as he blushed, a wildfire lighting up his cheeks.

"I love you," Naruto said, eyes sincere with longing to have someone, needing to cling to his best friend. He had his light, the one true thing in his life that gave him hope that the world wasn't full of hate and evil. His truth.

Tayuya moved closer to him until their noses touched. Needing to have him, her friend, be all to herself. She had her knight, her rock, there to be cry with her in the hard times and laugh with her in the good times. Things were finally good.

"I love you too." She said as they basked in each other's warmth.

For a rare moment on Tel-Mar, the sun burned through the rainclouds for a moment, a couple choice rays flowing into the window of the hotel room, illuminating the two reunited friends, ready to face the world with a smile on their face, despite the difficulty it would present.

They laid there in the sun, smiling at each other, feeling each other's warmth. He was sure of it now. He was positively madly in love with her. And somehow, he knew she felt the same.

He could get used to this as he slowly drifted off, stupid smile on his face, his best friend in his arms, and love in his heart.

-o0o-

Sasuke looked at the clock again.

"So let me get this strait: you were attacked by Itachi while you were on the rooftop of a building that you were on because your speeder broke down on you? Don't you think that's too much of a coincidence?"

He looked up at Kakashi.

"Yes, I do. Why do you think he attacked me in the first place? I told you, he planned it out!" Sasuke burst out.

Laying a lie down to cover his disappearance was easy.

He told them that instead of seeking out Itachi at the certain time, he was ambushed by him, whom was following Sasuke until he had a chance. Lying to Kakashi and the rest of their team was a piece of cake. They believed him like clockwork.

Everything was back to normal, accept one problem. Sakura knew something was amiss.

She had stopped by his home to pick him up, only to find that he had "gone shopping" with his mother. He was found in the hospital, and his mother could verify that he wasn't with her, so there was a question of what to do.

She didn't know yet, so he had to figure out a solution. A distraction.

"Alright Sasuke. I'll sign your hospital discharge papers and you can join us tomorrow. Just be careful. If Itachi is after you, who knows what will happen?"

Kakashi left the room.

A good distraction, he thought. He was in enough scrutiny as it was, and he didn't have time to deal with Sakura being a problem.

What if he…? No, that wouldn't work… Or… would it?

-o0o-

Naruto scanned the public computer terminal. He wasn't known in this solar system, but he still covered his face in the local head covering, a straw hat-type-thing. It kept out the rain, which pelted him incessantly.

He recalled that the entire planet was constantly in a rainstorm. This was also due to the fact that the entire planet was covered in water. Cities were built on giant platforms above. In the center of each platform there used to be a free port creating lots of trade for the planet, but now most ports were controlled by Gato.

He looked back to the terminal. It listed the local businesses still in… well… business. There was only one real hospital, and it was on the other side of the planet and it seemed overcrowded and controlled by an out-of-region government that would recognize him and his companion. Probably a Konoha charity case.

Either way, he needed to find someone out of business that would be willing to go back in. Years of experience told him that the best place to find someone was undoubtedly a bar. A poor one that was slightly shady.

Choosing the nearest one from the list, he walked the mile down to a small hole-in-the wall bar that looked like it used to be a casino. Walking in, most of it was walled off. Just an old broken down fancy drink bar at which there were several patrons sitting seemingly in a drunken stupor.

He sat down.

-o0o-

"You aint from around here, are you?" The bartender said, looking at Naruto.

"I get that a lot." He said coolly. "Do you serve any food? I'm starved."

"Heh, me too." The bartender replied. "Sorry, foods out. All I got is some 'shine, if you know what I mean"

"I'll take it." Naruto replied.

"You're just a kid. Well, I guess it doesn't really matter anyway. Not like other laws 'round here are followed." The bartender drawled into a mumble. Taking a bottle of unnamed liquid out from under the counter, the bartender poured a small amount of the liquid into a shot glass. He left it there, begging Naruto to drink it.

After staring it down, Naruto finally said," I'm in the market for something…"

At the sound of 'market' the bartender looked up. "How you payin?" he asked, in a hushed voice.

"I have money…" Naruto said, expectantly.

Upon hearing this, the bartender began an uproarious laughter. "Money he says!" the bartender chuckled.

When finally done, the bartender looked at Naruto. "Oh, you're serious." Naruto nodded.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but money isn't worth anything here. Gato's taken all the money and spent it. He did it again when everyone took their emergency deposits out to spend. Now since nobody has it, no one can spend any money. Plus his goons report any "rich" people, so I ask that you keep quiet. There's no way anyone will be able to hold on to, much less use, money."

"There's no way they could occupy a whole planet…" Naruto shot back. Upon seeing the bartender's sad look, he frowned.

"Half of my patrons turned, if only to give themselves a chance to live. You'd be surprised what desperate can do to a man. He will turn on his wife and child just to get what he needs. For many, being a goon was the only way to get by." The bartender sadly spoke.

"But I'm rambling here. What is it that you need? I may be able to suggest something." The man asked.

"I need some engine repairs on my ship, refueling, and… a doctor." Naruto spoke with some hesitation. "And few questions asked…"

"Well, I would have assumed that anyway, considering you're out here…" The bartender said. "You can't go to the hospital, with it being a "questions asked" kind of place… and there aren't any clinics open…"

Naruto sighed.

"But I can get you repairs. I have an old friend, Tazuna. He's a key player in getting 'Tel out of this mess." The man said slowly.

"Getting Tel-Mar out of this economic crisis? How?" Naruto inquired.

"You see, he's building a space elevator. Damn good one too. He's an engineer just about genius with all things mechanic. If you need repairs, he's your guy."

"I suppose that's good enough for now. How do I find him?"

"He lives… oh, I'll just take you there. Can't tell by the signs anyhow." The bartender finally said. "One last thing: how you 'gonna pay?"

This stumped Naruto. He didn't really have anything to barter with. Weapons, he supposed, or maybe spare parts? He had a little food left over but not a lot…

"Food?" Naruto asked.

"How much do you have?"

"A couple meals worth."

"Not enough then. Something that's worth it."

"I don't know: weapons?"

"Kid, he's a bridge builder, not a general. We don't have a rebellion like in star wars. Just a couple people trying to give ourselves a better chance."

Naruto chuckled at the man's reference to that old movie. He had always thought he was the only one to ever see that relic. His expression darkened as he asked again.

"So how does one pay here?" he questioned in frustration.

"Service is best."

"I can't work for him. Why do you think I asked for a doctor?"

"Well what services can you offer?"

Naruto thought of Cleopatra. She could compute and work with computers, maybe even autopilot a ship.

"I have a companion that can program."

"Good start." The bartender said. "I'll take you to Tazuna now."

-o0o-

After picking up Tayuya, who was asleep, and Cleopatra, who was stored in a briefcase, they approached a rundown apartment complex that looked like it was once grand. Now it was a shad of itself, the chrome metal rusting, with parts falling off. It was here that Tazuna lived.

Entering the building, the bartender walked through the dark lobby to the elevator. It seemed like a scene from a movie, with everything frozen in place. The lobby was illuminated by the light from the now activated elevator, and it contained half moved luggage, various appliances scattered around, and others. Something in the darkness moved, seeming with evil intentions, until Naruto realized it was only a rat.

Chuckling to himself, he stepped inside the elevator with the bartender. They went up twenty floors to about halfway up, Naruto estimated. He stepped outside onto a terrace surrounded with houses that were actually apartments. They held none of their former glory. Once designed as traditional olden time houses, their shackled roofs were ruined, and their old fashioned wood (not real wood of course) walling fallen off to expose the steel frames used to build the house.

Only one house was lit up, illuminating the dark terrace, with overgrown bushes and thorny plants. A small path was cleared between the brambles leading to the house.

"Most places were abandoned after Gato moved in. The smart ones left. The weak ones joined him. The strong ones died fighting, and the dumb ones like me and Tazuna stuck around."

"What about the local government?" Naruto asked, gingerly holding Tayuya bridal style.

"It exists, but is too weak to do anything. I hear they're planning to join up with Konoha dominion to get Gato, but nothing has happened as of yet. They are only rumors though."

"That's good, I suppose." Naruto said slowly.

They reached the entrance to the house with lights on.

"End of the line kid. I'll talk to him, but after that I 'gotta go. Taking enough chances as it is."

The bartender pushed the doorbell situated on the traditional "wood" door. After a moment, it opened to show a young woman in her thirties. She seemed accustomed to worry, and certainly looked older than her age.

"We're here to see Tazuna, on business." The bartender said.

"I'll get him right away" the woman replied, her eyes looking at Naruto, Tayuya, and then at Naruto again.

She left for a moment, and an old man with grey hair stepped out. His clothes were old and ratty from use, a style that must have been popular in Wave city long ago. He held a whiskey bottle in his hand, cherishing the strong liquor like his lifeline.

"Whaddaya want?" he mumbeled in a drunken stupor. " 'm busy…"

"We're here on business." The bartender said.

This seemed to sober the man, temporarily.

"Business eh? Does it have to do with the shrimp?" he asked.

Naruto bristled at this comment, but stayed quiet.

"I may have found you the programmer you need. He says his companion is a very skilled programmer."

"The girl?" Tazuna asked.

"No. It's need to know." Naruto piped in.

"Ye can tell us, boy." Tazuna replied.

"… its an artificial intelligence…" Naruto mumbeled.

The bartender widened his eyes. "Well, look at the time." He said, and left promptly.

"An AI? Do you know the danger of them boy?" Tazuna spoke.

"I've had this one for years. It will not bring harm to you. And it will do the job well."

"If you can promise. I need a good programmer and it seems like you're all I've got."

Tazuna stepped aside, a path into his home clear. "You can stay in the guest room. And my daughter is medically trained in case you need any medical treatment."

Naruto looked at the engineer in surprise. His daughter was a doctor? He was in serious luck. The bartender should have mentioned that…

"You wanted repairs, right? So tell me about your ship engine model…"

-o0o-

Sasuke walked into the training facility. This was where his team was meeting.

After the whole "killer" deal blew over (It had been weeks since a sighting.), the Konoha 15 was split up into four groups. Team Gai went back to its original status. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino teamed up with Kurenai. Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino were placed with Asuma, and he and Sakura got Kakashi.

He was meeting there, and he suspected that Sakura both knew something was amiss and that Kakashi would be late, giving her lots of time to confront him. It is for this reason he arrived late.

He would have to bide his time and keep her busy until she forgets about it. He was still thinking about what to do.

He opened the door, and Sakura looked up.

"Explain yourself." She said strictly. He had insulted her the other day and lied to her. She demanded an explaination.

He knew she had already gotten over her crush on him, but he was betting, hoping that a semblance of it remained.

"I… have a confession to make." Sasuke started slowly. "You see, I'm not being fair to you. I've been living a lie." He said, sadly. He truly was sorry that he had to lie, but this was something he had to do.

"I never saw you, Sakura. I never looked at the way you looked at me. And after thinking about it, I've decided…" .

Sakura's eyes widened more as Sasuke said each word.

"Sasuke…" Sakura whispered.

"I… I've grown to really like you Sakura. I can't live without you. I've just been in denial, this whole time, but I can't hide from the truth anymore. Sakura…"

"Yes…?" She asked, quietly, hopefully.

"Can you ever forgive me? For being such a jerk to you. You deserve better." Sasuke finally said.

"I… I can Sasuke! I can always love you. You could never get rid of me." She said, a tear falling from her eyes, but a smile appearing on her face.

Maybe one day, in better conditions, he could live that life. He could have that girl. Once he'd completed his goals, he might.

But for now, the most pressing matter was Itachi, and getting stronger. This was the only way to do it. The only way to have revenge. He needed this as did his family.

Sakura would eventually have to wait. He was truly sorry.

As she hugged him in tears, he played the part and hugged her back, almost losing himself to the dream that he didn't have to avenge the loss. Maybe he didn't have to. For now, he doesn't have to. All he has to do is enjoy the moment, right?

-o0o-

**Hay guys! Here's the update you previewed at the intermission. Hope you all who appreciated the intermission in wait in joyful hope for the coming of this chapter… well… enjoyed it. And the best way to enjoy it is to-**

**Review! The worst flame is better than no review at all!**


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